Lightbulb
by LoadedEel
Summary: A year after the Alvarez war, Laxus comes to the realisation that he isn't as adverse to settling down as he thinks. The one who helps him to this conclusion is already with another and his light bulb moment comes at an inconvenient time. But who doesn't love a challenge? Short story (6 shot), rated M for language and adult situations.
1. The Moment

All Rights to Hiro Mashima

This will be a 6 shot, complete with weird situations, badassery, Laxus-the-moron, as well as some good old fashioned smut. (Heed the **M** warnings and the section will be denoted with **XXX** like usual.) This is set after the Alvarez war, somewhere between a year and two in the future.

Drew is an OC of mine with no depth of character and no reappearance. Just a stand in for the situation at hand.

BEWARE! THE REALISATION! THE IDIOT DRAGON AND THE BEAUTIFUL BADASS PRINCESS!

* * *

 **~ Lightbulb ~**

 **Chapter 1: The Moment**

 _In which Laxus realises he isn't as adverse to the idea of settling down as he thought._

* * *

A typical day at the guild.

Cana making love to her whiskey barrel, Gajeel in the dark corner brooding over something or other while munching on the silverware, Natsu in his END form taking a crack at the Ice Devil Slayer while spewing a stream of childish insults, Titania completely engrossed in her newly found orgasmic strawberry confection – all was normal, all was perfect.

Erza had finally given up trying to make the two boys behave for the day, only knocking their heads together like coconuts twice before Mira distracted her from her sacred peacekeeping duties with a mound of strawberries covered in whipped cream and enough sugar to make dentists for ten square miles cry tears of joy just thinking of the inevitable cavities.

Laxus sat on the second floor watching over his guild members like the proverbial mother hen he had somehow turned into over the last year or so. Being a guild Master wasn't easy, but he found it doable thanks to his Grandfather's training a little bit of help he had garnered from an unlikely source.

No one knew, but Fairy Tail's Celestial mage had been helping out the newly appointed Master with – he shuddered just thinking the words and downed his whole glass of bourbon in one gulp – paperwork. Laxus lifted his hand slightly and caught Kinana's eye, who nodded and set out to bring him a new glass.

Luckily enough, it seemed that Lucy's upbringing had been helpful in some ways. She had a very shrewd mind when it came down to numbers, could balance the guild's books (which had consisted of a ream of loose-leaf lined papers with almost intelligible scribbles dating back to when Mavis was Master and some strange looking IOU's), and could pick apart a contract with apparent ease. She had brought in massive amounts of revenue especially from the magic council, for the things that Fairy Tail had done but never been compensated for, like destroying the Balam Alliance for one, or the destruction of the Lullaby Demon.

He once thought he saw her try to sneak in the obliteration of Zeref into an invoice and was pleasantly surprised – and slightly scared – when they received a cheque in the mail for bringing down the Black Wizard. Lucy had cackled at that point and he could only watch dumbfounded as her slightly maniacal side peeked out.

Since Alvarez, and the construction of yet another Guild Hall, Lucy had become his confidant and right-hand man (woman), always sassy while challenging him to do more for his family. He had already changed his will, which stated which charities would get his fortune should he die unexpectedly (half going to the guild and half going to the orphanages of Magnolia) – as he had no next of kin, no real family to speak of at the moment – and named Lucy Heartfilia his successor for the mantle of Guild Master. Most would have suspected Natsu, or Erza or even the young Romeo, but they would be entirely mistaken. He had seen something in her as of late that he enjoyed more than he could say, not that he could he put his finger on it, but there was a…light…that she had that made her instant Master material.

She had no idea of course and would leave it as a surprise for as long as he could.

But at the moment, his glowering and dark muttering had everything to do with the woman he now considered one of his closest friends. The Thunder Legion was avoiding him, knowing that his mood was something that he would never talk to them about; he could barely even put his mood into words as it was, but it was close to frustrated and annoyed with a healthy helping of surly teenager sprinkled on top.

It all started a little over four months ago on an innocuous spring morning. Lucy had come in bright and early to ask him for the night off – they did the paperwork in secret after most of the members had gone home for the evening – so that she could go on another date.

She had only revealed that the guy's name was Drew from the newly minted guild "Crescent Moon" and that he dabbled in Strength Magic – something to do with using spells like Wendy to power up his limbs…he wasn't truly listening at that point, just trying not to growl – and that this would be their second date.

Lucy was excited to get out and see if this guy could be the 'one' for her.

Laxus only wanted to know why he had gripped his favourite pen so hard at the news that it had splintered and splattered him with blue ink.

He had let her off for the day, telling her to enjoy herself while sending Lucy a truly pained grimace that had maybe once been a smile, but now looked like he was constipated. She had asked if he was alright and he had waved her off and lied that he had a headache. Well…not totally a lie, he knew he would have a headache by the end of the day, but that was beside the point.

She had come in the day after and the girls had bombarded her with all manner of questions, while Cana had wanted to know what sexual positions she had used with her new boy toy. Lucy had laughed them all off and told them that a lady should never kiss and tell – his beer stein had shattered in his hand then – and then fucking winked at them all causing the Demon and her little sister to twitter about with more questions and insinuations.

Lucy hadn't smelled like she had just come from a spectacular night of debauchery, so that night calmed him down somewhat…but she could have showered more than twice in an effort to fool all the Slayer's noses. But that was unlikely, he knew Lucy was partial to a good bubble bath, but at the moment she still smelled like fine wine and a hint of cologne.

It was more than likely that the guy had taken her to a fancy restaurant then dropped her off at home. Laxus also knew that Lucy liked to flaunt her god given gifts, but she wasn't like that. She had told him that she was searching for her 'one and only' and getting to know a person before ploughing them seemed more her style.

He respected the hell out of her.

Natsu had wanted to know just who this guy was and where he lived so that he could pound his face in (just like a good big brother would) – truthfully Laxus had wondered the same, but would never ask – which prompted Lucy into donning her Taurus Star Dress and kicking her best friend through the roof. After that, the questions stopped, but Mira had looked like she was in a shipping haze for a week after that.

Three months later, Lucy's boyfriend – he used that term very loosely – had asked her to move in with him. This had sent Laxus into a fit of rage, and he had no idea why.

Until Gajeel had found him beating the ever loving shit out of the magically enhanced dummies in the training yard later that same day. That conversation had been…painful, but enlightening.

 _"_ _What the hell prompted this kind of carnage?"_

 _Laxus had snorted. "What do you mean Lightning Rod? I'm just training."_

 _"_ _Sure. And I'm the King of Fiore."_

 _"_ _Tch, whatever."_

 _"_ _Have anything to do with a certain Bunny?"_

 _The Thunder God momentarily forgot his ire and whirled around to point a single finger in Gajeel's pierced face. "…no."_

 _"_ _You are such a fucking liar. We all see the way you watch her."_

 _"_ _What?" Stunned, Laxus forgot to be mad._

 _"_ _Tch. Idiot. The other Slayers and I, either you claimed the girl as kin…or as a possible mate."_

 _"_ _What the hell?"_

 _"_ _Look it up Sparky, it's in the library. Shrimp found a couple of books that could probably help...that is if you know how to read. Believe me…if we thought that this was just a passing thing, we would be all over you to get over her. You know how everyone feels about Bunny. Especially the Squirt."_

 _He did know. Natsu was her best friend and fiercest protector, Gajeel her doting big brother after they had bonded seeing as he spent so much time with his Shrimp, but he didn't have anything to worry about with them, they still didn't match his power on a good day. The one he was truly terrified of was Wendy. She had adopted the Celestial Mage as her Mother figure and had once gone into Dragon Force when Happy had made a passing comment on the size of Lucy's ass. She was…feral when she wanted to be._

 _"_ _Fuck off Metal Brows." They had dissolved into a good ole fashioned brawl that had thankfully released some of the tension he was feeling._

He heeded Gajeel's advice and found himself inside the guild's library. It took him days to finish three old tomes and each one hammered home the idea that the lacrima inside him – while giving him badass Lighting Dragon Slaying – also give him the instincts of a fucking Dragon. Not that he needed anything else weird to happen in his already incredibly strange life, but that was the way of the world. Lucy was either kin – which at this point was obviously incorrect because he had never wanted to throw her on his desk and fuck her raw more than he did now – or she was someone that stupid little beasty inside of him had seen as a possible mate.

The last book he read that was published almost three hundred years prior specified that Dragons looked for someone who had equal standing with them. With Laxus being an alpha male personality, he needed to find someone that would try to dominate the interactions they had and not be totally submissive to his will. Lucy had challenged him at every turn and he found himself actually looking forward to talking to her and coveted their debates over different issues.

It had nothing to do with magic power – because he would probably never find his equal except in other Wizard Saints, or when Natsu fell into the darkness of his END form (no he wasn't conceded, he was just that good) – but instead had everything to do with temperament, personality, and a smidge of sexual attraction.

And damn was he attracted to her.

Everything about her just called to him like he was a sailor and she was a siren, singing a sweet song that would lead him to his doom.

Oh, but what a pleasurable doom it would be. Her smell, her eyes, the curve of her back, even her goddamn fingers playing with a pencil made Laxus Jr sit up and beg for her attention.

Nothing could stop this, short of pulling the lacrima out of him of course, but that would probably kill him in the process. His body had become so dependent on it over the years and his magic was too closely linked with that tiny sphere to be separated from it now.

So Lucy was the one that the stupid lizard living in his brain had chosen and that was it. He didn't have a chance to change his mind like a normal person. It had taken three full days after he had learned that he had his love life mapped out by the magic that he had been burdened by in his youth until he had been sane enough to step into the guild hall once again without going on an electrically charged rampage.

When he had figured out that he admired Lucy deeply and couldn't see himself being with anyone else…ever, he clued into the fact that he was quite possibly in love. It had happened so slowly that he didn't even realise it and over the course of the past year of being a guild master he had started to want something different in his life.

He wanted to settle down and start his own family with someone.

And that someone was Lucy. He had a dream about her sitting on a rocking chair humming a soft tune while smiling down at a book splayed on her swelling stomach. He had somehow known that it was him who had given her a child and that rocked him to the core. Laxus had woken up painfully aroused – which was strange – and absolutely aching in need for that vision to become true. He wanted a family. He wanted children.

He wanted Lucy to be the one to make that dream come true no matter how long it took.

That realisation hit him like a sock filled with coins right in the testicles and he had pulled both Freed and Bickslow into ten straight hours of bar hopping and two and a half of recovering from their hangovers.

His lightbulb moment would forever be engrained in his mind accompanied by the smell and taste of malt liquor and peanuts.

 _Never again._

All this had happened in the span of ten days, and as far as he knew Lucy still hadn't given… _ugh_ …Drew an answer about moving in yet. She was surprisingly pragmatic and thought things through almost to the point of overthinking almost everything, so this decision (being as big as it was) was going to take her sometime. Which he was eternally thankful for, because there was a chance that she would say no and he could swoop in with his hulking muscles, devil-may-care attitude and cocky grin and change her relationship status from 'single' to 'mated-for-life' faster than you could say _hotdamn_.

As much as he wanted her to be happy, Laxus wanted her to be happy with him even more. Because he was a selfish bastard and wanted to horde her like the Dragon he apparently was. If he had been saddled with these instincts, he was going to fucking embrace the shit out of them and get his chosen mate come hell or high water.

So here he was, brooding over yet another glass of bourbon on the second floor of his guild, watching his family interact and laugh and have a joyous time together without a thought to his inner turmoil.

It wasn't fair!

They didn't have to deal with this Dragon shit all the time, and the ones that did had grown up with an actual fucking scaly-lizard-parent to help them along the way with this stuff.

His surly mood was palpable, and the black cloud of 'fuck you' wafted around the second floor so much that the Thunder Legion could physically feel his ire. Or it could have been small sparks of his magic that prickled nearby guild mates, but the result was the same and they had relocated downstairs almost an hour ago.

Laxus was waiting for Lucy to come in and tell Mira – whom he could hear whispering to Cana about the Celestial Mage from all the fucking way up here – about her giving her final answer to Drew.

Goddamn Drew.

His nose twitched at the smell of spring (Lucy) and pine (fucking Drew) that wafted along the air currents from the grand doors that opened up into the beer hall. It had been hot for days as summer had been blazing this year and those double wooden doors had been propped open to catch any and all breezes to cool off the stifling room.

Faint voices could be heard from the outside, one male and one female, and Laxus surmised that both Lucy and her beau were on their way here, but he couldn't hear what they were saying yet. As the smell came in on the wind, he realised he could smell perspiration (who wasn't sweating in this heat?), hormones (particularly the kind that someone gives off when they're furious) and an awful lot of woman's perfume.

He knew that Lucy never wore strong scents to save her best friend's nose – and subsequently his as well – from being bombarded by heavy smells. That probably meant that there was another woman with them, or Drew had recently started to enjoy wearing Eau d' every-fucking-flower-in-Earthland. It was unlikely, but one could hope he had shitty taste in things if only to save Laxus some of his pride that Drew the Dipshit was with his dream girl and he was watching from the sidelines.

The voices were getting louder.

It was an argument of some kind and he could hear Lucy's voice drop into a deadly sharp tone full of venom while Drew came back with something equally scathing that made her scoff. Laxus could practically see the look on her face. It had become one that he had learned to love immensely…especially when it wasn't directed at him that is. Her eyes would narrow into slits and she would radiate this ultimate badass aura that made him extremely excited yet scared.

Exhilarated beyond belief.

And so aroused it fucking hurt.

The two arguing mages finally made it through the front doors into plain view of the whole beer hall, and even though it was still loud enough in here to make his ears flippin' bleed, he could still listen in like the creepy stalker Dragon that he had become.

But Lucy made it easy for him – and everyone else in a mile's vicinity to be quite honest – to overhear their conversation.

Because she was screaming.

Really, _really_ loudly.

"-do you fucking explain it then? You just tripped while both of you were fully naked and accidentally shoved your dick into her vagina repeatedly?"

 _Oh_. Well…fuck. Laxus' grin turned feral. This was going to be interesting, he had yet to witness Scary Lucy after Alvarez and he was so intrigued that he almost forgot to be mad that her boyfriend had actually had the gall to cheat.

 _Almost._

In the back of his mind, he was pissed as all hell that sweet, kind, gives-way-too-many-chances-for-her-own-good Lucy had to go through something like this. He could only hope that she wouldn't give this asshat another chance.

He looked around the guild, and Laxus could see that everyone had the same look in their eyes.

Fury.

But none would dare to step in and try to "save" her. They knew what was going to happen; they had all seen a dumb downed version every time Natsu did something incredibly stupid.

Drew entirely passed by this question to say something that was so dumb, Laxus was sure even Natsu lost some IQ points from listening to it. "You weren't supposed to come back so soon!" He cringed at the whiny tone.

Amusement lit up inside everyone's eyes and shook their heads sadly. This dipshit had just dug his own grave.

"You…you didn't think I would come back from a job so early?" She hissed out, eyebrows scrunched up in incredulous anger.

"Yes?"

She stayed silent and just watched the pathetic man-child in front of her fidget with his fingers for a while.

Lucy deflated suddenly. "Why? I thought…I did everything for you…I was going to move in, and we were happy…right? What happened?" She whispered across the entirely still guild hall, more to herself than anything. But Laxus could hear her clear as day and despised the way she was second guessing herself because of some man whore that didn't deserve to lick her boots let alone date her.

That question seemed to bolster the idiot into saying what he really felt. "I was just done waiting for you to put out."

"What?" Her breathless growl was recognised by her family and everyone scrambled back, giving Lucy and Drew a wide birth.

"It's been four fucking months! I waited patiently enough. I thought you would be an easy lay, you practically spill out of your clothes anyways and I just wanted to fuck you once but then you kept keeping me at arm's length. You were just supposed to be a stupidly weak mage that would fawn over me and fall into my arms like everyone else. I never wanted a relationship with you…"

Everyone sucked in a quick breath, their eyes blowing wide and took an extra step back. Charles and Wendy sprinted around the counter of the bar to hide with Mira, Lisanna, Kinana, and Laki. They knew something was coming, but they didn't know what.

Erza started to wonder how much of the guild was going to be left after this as Gray and Natsu stood solidly together (without fighting) while trying to kill Drew with only their thoughts.

Booming laughter spilt out of Laxus' mouth. This situation, while slightly infuriating, was hilarious to him. Here was a man Lucy wanted to give her heart to and he had thrown it away, insulted the way she dressed, called her weak and apparently had been living under a rock. All while fucking other women.

Had he even heard of her efforts in the war? Had Drew never made the connection nor heard what she was now called? Lucy never threw around her acclaim so that sounded like the most obvious reason. He knew that she hated all the names that people gave her (since she had so many nicknames) but would tolerate what her Spirits and family gave her to a point.

He yelled down from the second floor, eyes glinting with mirth and mischief, catching Lucy's gaze and winking subtly at her. Maybe it was a bit flirty for this situation, but he really meant to convey that he had her back. "You are a fucking idiot…calling Lucy weak. Ever heard of the 'Star Bringer?' the Celestial Mage who holds ten of the twelve legendary keys of the Zodiac and Master of all Star Dresses, the only mage in existence to hold favour with the Spirit King?"

Drew nodded sceptically.

Laxus stood and walked calmly down until he stood behind the fuming Celestial Mage and smiled wide, his canines glinting in the light. "You just insulted her little man."

Obviously this slight to Drew's ego could not be overlooked. "Who the hell are you anyways?"

He growled low in his throat, the sound like two boulders colliding. But before he could answer; Lucy spoke for him, her tone proud. "Master Laxus Dreyer, one of the Four Gods of Ishgar." Earlier in his life, Laxus would have loved the fact that he was powerful enough to be considered one of the four Gods, but now, the title 'Master' held so much more weight with him. Once he had wanted it for the prestige, but now he had earned it through hard work. He knew it was infinitely better this way.

But he could admit, if only to himself, that it did sound pretty impressive out loud.

Drew paled. "You're that Celestial Mage? Why didn't you tell me?"

Lucy's eyes bled gold while Leo and Virgo stepped out of their gates, faces like thunder and smiles wicked. Their key – wielder was patient and eternally kind, except when anyone called her weak. She had worked long and hard to stop feeling that way and her Spirit friends would do anything and everything to keep her from thinking that ever again.

Twinkling lights surrounded Lucy until she was revealed in her Taurus Star Dress, hefting a gigantic two-sided axe over her bare shoulders. "Why would I tell you that? You shouldn't have needed to hear who I was to respect me."

Drew made the fatal mistake of stretching is arm out to try and touch Lucy, and she flinched back almost hitting Laxus who still stood behind her. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and pulled Lucy until she was pressed up against his chest, relishing in the warmth and the feel of her body against his. "Don't you fucking touch me, Drew, we're over. _Never_ speak to me again."

Her now ex-boyfriend stood stonily in place, then opened his mouth to say something stupid once again, his lips twisted into a disgusted sneer.

But before he could get a single syllable out of his mouth, Drew went soaring out the propped open doors and down the cobblestone street, his scream trailing out behind him.

Laxus looked down to see a smirking Lucy lowering her leg from her amped up 'Lucy Kick' she had all but perfected over the years and felt his pride in her abilities and the fact that she could take care of herself soar through the roof.

He steered her towards the She-Demon behind the bar, while Leo swooped down on some unsuspecting girls in the corner to flirt his ass off while Virgo bowed then collapsed her own gate. "Come on Blondie. Let's get you a drink, I bet you need it after that shitty afternoon."

She looked up at him with those gigantic brown eyes filled with thanks and a small amount of pain and he fell head over heals in love with her once again. How could anyone cheat on this wonderful, beautiful woman?

She was blinding, like the sun. And just like the sun, he needed her in his life every single day.

"Thanks, Thunder Thighs." They reached their destination and she waved at Mira a little sheepishly. "Can I have a whisky sour Mira?"

When that was placed in front of her, Lucy downed it in a single gulp and he watched her throat swallow, the movement smooth and erotic in a way he didn't quite understand. A couple of her friends had tried to come over to ask what happened, or if she was alright, but Laxus' intimidating aura sent them scurrying in the other direction.

No doubt she would need to talk to someone about her ordeal, but he was bound and determined to be that person. She had become his confidant, the one human in all of Earthland he told absolutely everything to, and he wanted to become that for her as well. At least all the truly important things (except for this mating ordeal…he didn't really know how to tell her about that…)

For now, this would be enough.

They sat on their respective bar stools for hours, sipping different drinks and chatting about inconsequential things, avoiding heavy topics – at least for now. All their interactions had been in secret in his office doing paperwork, so this felt refreshing. Not hiding the fact that he liked to talk to her.

Before she left for the night, to sleep off the fact that she was slightly tipsy, Lucy had given him one of those heartfelt smiles that made him melt into a mushy pile. "Thank you for tonight Laxus, I really needed it after today. We'll start the next batch of paperwork tomorrow?"

"You can bet your cute little ass we will Blondie. Your team seems determined to wreck every building in Earthland at least once. We have apologies to mail out…"

She laughed, the sound a bit off, the usual levity strained from her ordeal, but her eyes filled with happiness. "See yah tomorrow Thunder Thighs."

And then she was gone, weaving her way to the door.

Laxus glanced around for Gajeel, the one Slayer who seemed to be both old enough to understand the situation and not a total bonehead, vowing that tomorrow he would start in his quest to win Lucy's heart for good.

Hopefully, Metal Brows would know what the fuck to do to woo a mate.


	2. The Gift

All Rights to Hiro Mashima

Thank you for all the overwhelming support for this little ficlet! This chapter was written for **Desna** who I thank from the bottom of my heart for adding it to its first community. :3 If you haven't already, take a peek at her own Lalu story " **Fate Decides**."

BEWARE! THE LIGHTNING ROD! THE INNAPROPRIATE COMMENT!

* * *

~ **Lightbulb** ~

 **Chapter 2: The Gift**

 _In which Laxus asks for advice from an unlikely source and figures out just how fucked he truly is._

* * *

The days passed quickly until almost two months had gone by since the 'confrontation-in-the-guildhall-between-Scary-Lucy-and-the-dillhole' (as the kids were calling it these days), and Laxus hadn't made a lick of headway in making the beautiful blonde his mate. She sat in front of him at his own fucking desk three nights a week for the God's sakes. He was starting to feel the pathetic feeling of desperation creep up into his mind.

Laxus knew he was acting like a scared little pussy, but somewhere in his mind, he couldn't get passed a mental block that told him that if she turned him down…or stopped being his friend or learned to despise him in any way, that would be a fate worse than death itself.

 _Slight_ exaggeration, but don't judge him, he's desperate.

It had come to the point where Master Laxus actually stood in front of the bathroom mirror every morning to pep talk himself with a half-hearted speech about how he was stupidly good looking and every woman everywhere wants to be with him. Especially if they knew just what he was working with under the hood so to speak. Honestly,…it was not hard to guess that he was well endowed just by looking at the size of his hands and feet.

After taking a celebratory shot of whisky (just to calm his nerves even if it was nine in the morning) after pumping himself up and telling himself that today would be the day that he would get this shit over with, the blonde would march out of his front door, down the path and towards his beloved guild.

He would talk to Lucy today about all this mating bullshit, calmly, like adults. Then they would find each other irresistible, rip off each other's clothes, and make love until the sun rose. Then somewhere down the line Lucy would have his thirty-three babies, he would train their army of children in the art of Lightning Magic and she would help those who wanted to follow in her footsteps and find Spirits, and they would become an unstoppable force of nature.

The Dreyer family. Hulking badass dad, wickedly strong sexy mum, thirty-three lightning spirit babies.

They would take over the world.

Every morning these thoughts would make their weird ass circuit through his brain as he walked the distance from his home on the outskirts of town to the guild. He could teleport with his magic, but enjoyed the silent contemplation of a morning walk, especially because if he timed it just right he would arrive at the same time as the object of his affections.

Sometimes he thought she had become an obsession, but then he reminded himself that he just thought about her a lot, there was not stalking Juvia-style, nor was there any peeping or trying to insert himself into her life more than he already had (which wasn't very much, to be honest).

She was just always on his mind. Especially with no clothes on, or on the flip side, with all her clothes on with his children or curled up next to him reading a book. He lived a strange life, but he knew that he wanted that last one the most. More than anything he just wanted someone to love him and feel comfortable around him.

Yes, he had a resting asshole face, but there was nothing to be done now. It was too late in his life for him to change his default facial expression. Two decades of being a douchebag had ingrained itself into his mind.

As he would inevitably arrive at the same time as Lucy (imagine that! A total coincidence that had happened for the last twelve days in a row), she would turn to him, give him that gigantic Lucy smile that lit up his insides like his stomach was strapped to a bunch of firecrackers and sent to the moon, and he would automatically melt.

Into a gigantic Laxus sized puddle.

Unfortunately for him, that smile and the way she would say "Good morning Master" sent him into a tailspin of giddiness. It also tied his tongue in knots and plastered a stupidly goofy smile on his face (which wasn't a good thing when sitting near Mira or anyone for that matter, he was supposed to be a surly Dragon dammit).

But all this ultimately sapped him of his courage to even bring up the topic of Dragon Slayers, their mates, and the fact that he wanted to bone her so bad that he had had reoccurring wet dreams of her spread out on his bed moaning for his cock.

It was infuriating. For him at least.

For others, like Gajeel, it was so amusing that he had started to come to the guild earlier than usual just to watch Bunny and the Sparkplug interact.

So here he was, Laxus the big bad Lightning Dragon Slayer, brought down by a petite blonde with a killer ass and bright smile. Standing outside his guild hall feeling his courage to have a quick chat with Blondie spiral down the proverbial drain yet again.

"Gihi…" Gajeel's infuriatingly annoying laugh filtered up to his sensitive ears and immediately bolstered his resolve. He had been the laughing stock for the walking pincushion for almost two months.

No.

No more! He was going to do something about all of this today.

He looked towards the bar to see that Lucy was bouncing the Connell's newest addition to their family (a little green haired boy by the name of Jessie) on her knee. She blew a raspberry on Jessie's little tummy and the child squealed in happiness and Lucy laughed.

She looked over at him and gave Laxus a heartfelt full toothy smile, and he almost collapsed to his knees in awe.

Lucy was breathtaking in her simplicity. Just a quirk of her lips completely slays him.

He was absolutely fucked.

Looking away from the adorable sight at the bar that was giving him heart palpitations, Laxus stalked over to the guffawing Iron Dragon Slayer.

Gajeel popped another screw into his mouth and looked up to see Laxus looming over him. "You okay there? It seemed like you were about to collapse for a moment."

Laxus scowled and grunted noncommittally. "Tch."

Gajeel laughed louder. "I could hear your goddamn increased heart rate from all the way over here."

"Shut up." The blonde grumbled then threw himself into the seat opposite Metal Brows. "How do you deal with all this shit? I can't look at…anything without thinking of her. I walked by a bakery and got a boner because the damn icing smelled like that vanilla body lotion she uses."

Instead of making fun of him his impromptu teacher looked at him and then snorted. "There's nothing you can do to make this easier. It's the Dragon, he wants who he wants and everything that you notice about her, or reminds you of her, or the dreams…fuck those dreams. They were the worst part…it is the Dragon's way of pushing you over the edge if you leave the claim too long."

Mildly sceptical eyebrows rose. "You had those dreams too?"

Gajeel took a bite out of the metal plate his scrap metal had come on. "Tch. I still have them. Just because I know who my mate is…doesn't mean that I deserve them."

"Isn't that the truth…we both don't deserve the women that our magic is pulling us towards."

Finishing off his plate, Gajeel gave Laxus one last look. "Just be glad you didn't nail her to a tree with your own iron. I will never, ever be able to forget that."

Laxus nodded and decided that they needed to move on from this depressing topic. "How did you tell Levy?"

The uncomfortable silence that followed answered his question well enough. "You…haven't told her…have you?"

"Tch. No, not yet. Are relationship is finally stable after all that Alvarez shit and the war and rebuilding again…I'm just waiting for the right opportunity."

Well, shit. Laxus realised that he was up shit creek without a paddle. He was so sure that the idiot in front of him would have some type of fool proof plan with like…step by step instructions of something. But to find out that Gajeel, the man that had an honest to the Gods relationship with his mate, didn't have a fucking clue how to proceed let all the wind out of Laxus' sails.

The lightning mage let his gaze wander the hall again, finding Lucy happily chit chatting with her blue-haired best friend. Both girls were so into their conversation that they didn't notice the two hulking males watching them with longing in their eyes from the other side of the room.

Gajeel saw the look on Laxus' face and shook his head, knowing that the sappy puppy eyes that he was sporting could be found on him as well.

"Shit. We are so fucked."

"You got that right. I can't go a single night without dreaming about her in my bed. Or her pregnant with my child. Or just…being with me. It's driving me out of my mind. I can't relax at all, my moods are all over the place. It's like I'm PMSing without the waterfall of blood."

Large hands raked through long raven hair. "Get used to it. That's supposed to go away somewhat when the bond is formed, but until then…"

Laxus scowled. "Goddammit. You know what? We are making a pact, right now…by the end of the year, we are both going to have told our mates what they mean to us."

The Iron Dragon rolled his eyes and nodded. "Fine. What if the other doesn't go through with it?"

Laxus grinned, his smile slightly reminiscent of a certain Demons. "Naked spread in sorcery weekly with a full interview with Jason."

"Ugh. That guy is so damn annoying." Gajeel smirked. "Sounds interesting, but let's make it even harder. We have exactly two months instead, not six."

"I like the way you think Metal Brows."

They shook hands and sealed the deal, casting surreptitious glances around the guild to make sure they hadn't been seen acting like civil human beings.

With the agreement settled, they both rose to go on their way (Laxus towards his office and Gajeel towards Salamander to work off some of his nervous tension), but before they could take more than three steps, Gajeel decided to do something that everyone would refer to as 'the-biggest-fucking-mistake-this-year.'

"Yo Bunny Girl, wanna come up on stage with me again? I've still got that sexy little suit that you wore last time."

Three things were wrong with that statement.

One, it sounded like Gajeel was flirting with Lucy (both Lucy and Levy had walked over towards them headed to the guilds hot spring) so that sent Levy into second guessing her relationship with her almost-boyfriend.

Two, Gajeel knew that this shit wasn't going to fly with Laxus (he was an alpha personality after all and his Dragon was extraordinarily territorial).

Three, Lucy had warned him that she wouldn't be getting back up on that stupid stage even if it would save her life.

The reaction the walking pincushion was slightly worried about was Levy's, but in truth, he should have been downright terrified out Lucy's.

She was the Starbringer after all. The only Celestial mage that also had mastered water magic (a gift from Aquarius during Tartaros that had somehow stuck around) and that stupid Iron Dragon forgot about Scary Lucy.

A jet of boiling water hit Gajeel in the face, drenching him to the bone and made him look like a drowning rat. Lucy and Levy rushed off towards the baths, scowls in place before he could even attempt a comeback.

However, Laxus decided that that comment couldn't be forgotten and that in that moment Gajeel had turned into a rival. He growled low in his throat and let his magic leak out to his extremities. It sparked and arced around his body in fast waves fueled by his frustration and annoyance.

It was clear that Gajeel had forgotten that he was essentially a walking lightning rod with extra iron in his blood. Even his bones had traces of metal in them. He was also standing in a puddle of water completely drenched.

Laxus smirked at his prey, and before you could say _fuckingshit_ , Gajeel had turned into a slightly smoking pile of singed clothes and electrical burns.

Wendy was on him in an instant and others laughed and shook their head at the idiot Dragon who had the gall to incur their Master's wrath. Because truly, they all knew Gajeel somehow deserved it.

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

Feeling marginally better than before, Laxus went up to his office and closed the door enjoying the peace and quiet. While the talk with Metal Brows had been a long time coming, it didn't really answer any of his questions.

How was he supposed to deal with all these feelings inside him now? Is this what normal people felt all the time? If it was, he felt almost sad for them. It was too much all at once.

And the fact remained that he was nowhere near getting his mate and he needed to deal with this within the next two months. There was no way he was going to be able to even get on her radar in that time if he couldn't figure out something.

What did women like?

Money? No too impersonal.

Chocolate? Closer, but not enough.

"Dammit!" He scrubbed his eyes with his massive palms. He knew almost nothing about relationships and even less about women in general. There were mystical beings that were so complex that they need a map and a compass just to navigate through and he didn't have a chance of understanding.

He wanted to show Lucy what she meant to him.

Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in the deep, _deep_ inside his brain.

He would get her a gift. A gift so great that she would fall madly and utterly in love with him and they would get started on that army of children immediately.

Laxus jotted down a few ideas completely disregarding all the paperwork around him. What did Lucy like?

Books…writing…milkshakes…small skirts…kicking people…snippy remarks…and her spirits.

Spirit keys had become extremely rare in the last few years, either being lost or forgotten or destroyed, so those that were found were a long sought after commodity. He knew this was perfect, he would be the one to give her a new friend and she would see him in a new light.

It was a slightly selfish reason, be he truly wanted to see her happy. So Laxus made his mind up and over the next two weeks, between his Master duties, taking solo missions for the hell of it and travelling with the Thunder Legion, he made sure to check all the magic shops and the rewards for all the requests in the guild.

He had no luck until one afternoon when an SS quest was turned in for a protection and escort job from Crocus to the capital city of Bosco.

Normally, he would try and contact Gildarts with something like this because this request was actually coming from one Toma E. Fiore, but when he saw that the reward was a celestial spirit key, he was all over it.

Immediately he called up the Thunder Legion and told them about the impending mission to which they agreed and dispersed to pack then meet at the train station.

He asked Mira to find Lucy and have her come up to his office immediately.

Forty-five minutes later found the two blondes staring across mounds off apology letters until Laxus cleared his throat and started.

"I'll be on a mission for the next month Blondie. I'm putting you in charge of the guild." He held up his hand when she started to protest. "-I know you know how all of this works, and we have been a pretty good team for a year and a half now. You'll do just fine."

"But why me? Why not Erza or Macao?"

"Because neither of them are my successors."

"…what?" Her whisper of disbelief sent him smirking.

"You heard me. If something should happen to me on any mission or a freak accident or something like that…you Lucy Heartfilia are my successor. You will take up the mantle of Fairy Tail's Guild Master and you will do it with pride and courage. Just like you showed in the war, just like you show every day."

Laxus donned his ever present fur trimmed coat and patted the top of her head, almost asking her what hair treatment she did every day because _dayum_ her hair was so silky. "You'll do just fine Lucy. I believe in you."

And then he swept out the door, missing the look of surprise and adoration that crossed Lucy's features. He was on a mission. Laxus was going to find that key for his mate and tell her just how much he loved every part of her when he returned.

This gift was going to blow her away.


	3. The Surprise

All Rights Hiro Mashima

Thanks to everyone for their support of this story! This chapter is for **ErzaD Law**...go check out some of her stories! They are truly fantastic...

BEWARE! SNARKY THUNDER GOD

* * *

 **~Lightbulb~**

 **Chapter 3: The Surprise**

 _In which Laxus finds out exactly what Lucy has been hiding from them all._

* * *

Almost exactly twelve hours and one stomach twisting train ride later found the Thunder God and his Tribe in the capital city Crocus. Although he'd been on longer trips in his life, Laxus was very grateful for when he and his team finally made it back to onto unmoving ground. Between Evergreen's bitching, Bickslow's jokes and Freed's almost obsessive need to be underfoot, he was one hundred and ten percent done with them.

Usually, he had more patience (being a guild master of the man-child named Natsu taught that skill in droves mere minutes after he was appointed), but for some reason, he was at the short end of his fuse already and they hadn't even begun the request in earnest.

He thought it might have something to do with not seeing Lucy for a while, or smelling her scent or something weird and Dragony like that. After finding out she was the one the bastard in his mind (and his pants, can't forget about his penis…) had inadvertently chosen, he was almost hyper aware of her. When he was surrounded by everything that was Lucy, it was heaven and hell wrapped up into a neat little package that sent him into bliss and agony all at the same time.

But it was worth it.

She was so worth the pain. Fuck he was so enamoured with her that he was almost one hundred percent sure that sunshine literally shone out her asshole.

If everything about her and went through symptoms of withdrawal. The worst was when she had been gone for a whole week on a request with her team and he had taken his anger out on an unsuspecting - but no less deserving - Gajeel.

To this day the Iron Slayer still believes that his right ass cheek is permanently twitchy from Laxus' lightning halberd.

But, his need to smell her goddamn shampoo and wanting to rub his face all over her voluptuous breasts were not good enough excuses for him to go off on his lovable, but annoying ass team.

So, he pinched the bridge of his nose, counted backwards from ten and let out a long slow breath to try and bring some of his calm back so that he didn't snap unnecessarily at the Thunder Legion or you know...electrocute them 'accidentally.'

What he wouldn't give to be back in the guild, letting a glass of his grandfather's secret stash of bourbon burn a sweet path down his throat. It never stopped him from calming down and was truly one of life's greatest pleasures.

"Laxus, are you alright? Did that train ride make you more nauseous than usual? Do you need to rest, or perhaps a drink?" Ever the gentleman, Freed was true to form taking care of him more than his own mother had, but the questions were grating on his already frayed nerves.

"NO…God no, Freed…Fuck, I'm fine. Let's just get this shit over with already. I need to get back to the guild." Back to Lucy. That was what he really wanted...but he didn't know how to say it out loud. He had only recently admitted to himself that he wanted the woman as more than a person to warm his bed - although he would like that as well - so how was he supposed to tell his three closest friends that he was in love?

He growled low just picturing their reactions.

There would be a lot of laughter at his expense. And Freed might cry big fat tears when he found out he had been confiding in Lucy even more than he did with his Legion.

Evergreen snapped her fan out and waved it around trying to create a breeze in the still air, Crocus had been unseasonably warm this year. "What the hell Laxus...you've been snippy all day. You're the one who wanted to go on this mission. You're the one who dragged us out here to escort the client to Bosco. We didn't ask for this treatment and you know it."

"She's right boss man. You've been an extra large douchebag today. What the fucks your problem?" The man's tongue lolled out in a grin, undermining the seemingly harsh words he spoke. Bickslow could be serious at times when the situation arose, but he usually got too much enjoyment out of everything in life.

Large hands raked through staticky blonde hair and Laxus sighed again for the millionth time that morning. "Fuck. Fine. You really want to know?" Maybe being blunt and honest was the way to go. That was who he was really, no beating around the bush, no bullshit.

Three heads nodded as they strode towards the palace.

"Tch...turns out that Dragon's take mates."

"So that means…"

"While having kick ass Lightning Slayer magic, I also get the instincts of a Dragon. It only kicks in when that little bastard inside my soul or brain or whatever recognises a good match for me, my magic and my temperament." Laxus growled out while he stalked down the main road. The man cut quite a path through the crowd as no one really wanted to get too close to the sparking behemoth with a frown so deep it could swallow up the country of Seven.

Evergreen stopped the procession and whacked her fan across Laxus' chest. "Just how long have you known about this?"

Laxus pouted, lip jutting out and scowl growing more pronounced. "Why does that matter?"

"It matters you gigantic idiot, because we are your team! Your backup! You damn friends Laxus Marvin Dreyer and you need to fucking open up to us goddammit!" Evergreen was shouting by the end of her tirade, yelling her ire out to the world, as well as a smidgen of information that Laxus didn't even know that she had, but would make sure she never repeated ever, ever again.

"I know, alright? I just...didn't know how to deal with this at all. It's so fucking messed up, I was so angry at first that I just went out and kicked the shit out of the East Forest. Then I sat in my house and drank myself into a stupor. Then when I ran out of booze I dragged these two idiots with me and drank half of Magnolia in less than twelve hours." When she gave him a haughty condescending look, he rolled his eyes and continued their path towards Mercurius. "And don't you dare tell anyone about my middle name. I don't know how you know...but just...keep that shit to yourself."

Evergreen smirked maliciously. "A certain Demon may have let it slip under the influence of alcohol."

He growled "Fucking Mira…"

The fairy bat her eyelashes. "You would think...but no. Mira doesn't drink anymore after that one time where she woke up as the cream filling in a Jet and Max sandwich…"

"Then who the fuc-"

"END."

"Shit." Even though Natsu was Lucy's best friend, he was in for a world of fucking hurt when they came home. Maybe it could wait for after he gave her the gift...she would probably be more forgiving then.

He grinned maliciously. There was an order for roasted Demon, extra crispy and he would deliver come hell or high water.

Freed broke the silence. "Do you love her?"

A growl sounded through the air, disturbing the peace. "What the fuck kind of question is that? Of course I do? She's...everything to me!" His voice rose to a near shout.

"Fuck! Boss man, chill out...what is up with this douchebag attitude? Freed was just asking you a question, you didn't need to jump down his fucking throat. We all want to know, can you blame us? You've bounced from woman to woman for years, and told us you would never settle down, ever. Why are you acting so shitty?"

"Because I haven't completed the bond yet, and my dick and the little Dragon in my brain want her so fucking bad it actually physically hurts me to be away from her for too long. Remember when I shoved my foot so far up Metal Brow's ass that he choked on my laces when team 'destruct everything in Earthland twice' was gone for a single week? I couldn't physically stay still, I have too much energy all the time and I have fucking mood swings like a teenage boy going through the worst puberty known to the history of Earthland."

And his balls were continuously blue and no amount of self-help could rectify that little problem, but he kept that thought to himself.

Evergreen picked at her cuticles as the Thunder God showed off his guild tattoo on his chest to the palace guards. "Who is she?"

His silence followed them through the gates, then the flower gardens, then the entry way until they sat in a sitting room filled with furniture that looked like Laxus could snap them in half if he sat on the dainty ass chairs.

He chose to stand instead of incurring even more debt for his guild. His mate had worked so hard for long hours with only his surly ass as company to keep their damn guild from falling apart. Shit...when had he become so considerate?

Only for her. She deserved so much better than him, but he would try to be the best for her for as long as possible. If she even accepted his advances in the first place, there was a real possibility that she would outright reject him.

That thought terrified him to no end.

The Thunder Legion watched his facial features roll through so many different expressions that they didn't even know he could show. Their amusement at his conflicted looks going unnoticed.

So when their leader's answer came as a gruff growl, the Thunder Legion took it in stride for the moment. There was time to flip out later, for now they would internalize their screams of confusion, apprehension, and in Bickslow's case - cackling laughter.

Now was the time to meet the King.

"It's...Lucy."

Yeah, their leader was royally fucked. (No pun intended)

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

Toma E. Fiore was ecstatic that the famous Thunder Legion (complete with surly Thunder God, aka Laxus Dreyer, aka one of the Four Gods of Ishgar) had taken his request.

They had boarded a private cabin in a train that would take thirteen days to reach the capital of Bosco. When asked by Freed, about the nature of the visit and whether or not they could expect bandits or trouble and the like, the King's answer came as a surprise.

"Oh, no, young man. I just want the company on this long ride! It's oh so boring being by myself. Hisui has grown so much older now and she doesn't like to be with her poor papa anymore. I have so many questions for you, I haven't had much contact with Fairy Tail after the whole Eclipse Gate, Dragon invasion debacle..."

At that Bickslow turned away to converse telepathically with his babies on the best way to prank a King without getting excommunicated, Evergreen pulled out her emergency nail repair kit, while Laxus leant back in his chair and tried to doze off while focusing his enhanced hearing for trouble. Just because this was a companionship job, didn't mean he could relax completely.

He didn't get to be one of the most feared - and revered - mages in the entire world while snoozing instead of being vigilant. His life was exhausting sometimes, but it was worth it for his family and the adventure. There was never a dull moment. Especially with his team.

They would let Freed answer any questions his Liege had, he was the one who grew up in that world at any rate and could give the answers in an eloquent way.

The blonde kept his lacrima pod around his neck and let thoughts of the thanks he would receive from Lucy when this easy as fuck job was done and over with. He was envisioning her splayed beneath him begging for his to pound her within an inch of her life, but he knew, in reality, it might just be a hug.

In his books, either would be a win, cause he would be able to feel her breasts pressed against his chest at any rate.

He leant back, ready to finish this easy job as soon as possible.

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

"Easy my ass…You telling me that these bandits just happened to find the one train that held the King going into Bosco? Fuck that noise...shit! LIGHTNING DRAGON'S HEAVENLY HALBERD!" Laxus grumbled and griped about the stupid attack on the stupid moving tin can. It was all so...stupid.

Another round of mages fell in the wake of the Thunder God's incantation. He looked around to make sure that the King was being protected from these second rate thugs. Bickslow and Evergreen surrounded Toma, while Freed's signature purple runes flashed in the dim lighting every time a lightbulb sparked and popped, shattering and spraying glass all over the floor due to his magic.

Then he noticed that the men in cliche black ninja outfits were completely bypassing the VIP they were protecting and running straight for him.

Coincidence?

Laxus thought not.

He didn't think it was by chance either that most of the Wizards attempting to get a hit on him were A-class, he could tell by the pool of magic that each person had. There was even an S-class, although that one screamed out an attack and then ran straight at him like a fucking rookie. Long years of living in the same vicinity as the Fire Fart had over prepared him for that kind of attempt. Laxus snapped his arm out and clotheslined the bastard into immediate unconsciousness.

"Dammit, boss! They just keep coming! Where the fuck were all these bastards hiding?" Bickslow's babies giggled and shot another round of green energy at an attacker wielding a hand and a half sword.

Laxus snorted, had they time travelled back to the dark ages? Other than Erza, who the fuck even used swords anymore?

While there were no mages present that even remotely came close to the same level as him - or really anyone in his guild, damn...Fairy Tail was filled some fucking powerhouses.

The Thunder God, Gildarts, Salamander, Beast Arm, She-Demon, Black Steel, The Rain Woman, Sky-Maiden, Titania, The Star-Bringer, Ice-Devil...just to name a few...or a lot. Then there were the mages that held the best minds on Earthland like Levy and Freed...as well as Lucy, and you had a recipe for the craziest guild in the history of ever.

Laxus wondered how there were any buildings in Fiore left standing.

It was just one of those mysteries that would never be solved.

More men in black kept pouring in and Laxus was getting annoyed, couple that with his current mood of 'I'll fuck you up if you even breathe' and he decided it was time to end this fight.

"I'll finish it!"

The Thunder Legion scrambled to get back behind the runes that Freed had already set up, they knew the drill and Laxus was already extra pissy lately, and the separation from his supposed mate was not doing wonders on his anger issues. Usually, their guild Master had impeccable control, but this time...all bets were off.

"ROARING THUNDER!"

Lightning streaked through the cabin, lighting up the dark spaces until everything was shown in sharp relief. Mage after mage crumpled to the floor, a mess of electrical burns and twitching limbs.

Freed let the runes dissipate and inspected the carnage around him while Toma edged forward, his face a mask of curiosity. The King grasped the arm of a groaning Mage and lifted the long t-shirt up to show off a guild mark, stamped in dark blue across the man's inner wrist. "Hmmm...I have never seen this guild mark before, it must be a relatively new guild, or perhaps a dark one?"

"Yo...boss man, you need to see this…"

The Thunder God looked at the mark and cursed loudly, forgetting for a moment he was in the presence of royalty. Toma waved off his apologies with an easy smile.

"I take it you recognise this mark my boy?"

Laxus growled and snarled, his pupils retracting to the size of pin heads. "Yes. It's Crescent Moon…"

He left a bewildered King with Freed and stole the comm lacrima from Ever. He needed to contact Fairy Tail immediately. He had a feeling that Lucy was in danger.

He rolled his eyes. Fuck, he just had to choose a mate that would give him a goddamn heart attack before he turned thirty-five. Why was it that Lucy was always the one in danger?

 **-ooo-**

"Oi! Salamander. Where the hell is Mira?" It was just his luck that the densest mother fucker in his extended family would answer his call instead of the barmaid slash Demon. He needed answers, not an idiot screaming out his need to fight him.

Except, Natsu looked uncharacteristically focused, his eyes glimmering with a certain sparkle that made Laxus think that Lucy's best friend knew more about the world that he let on. He might be slightly dense, but he wasn't stupid. Anyone who had ever watched him fight would have to agree, even if it was reluctant.

Salamander's grin was feral. "She's a bit busy at the moment…she's making sure Asuka is safe."

Laxus lowered his voice, a smidgen of panic slipping through. "What about Blondie?"

The pink-haired man's smile grew even wider. "See for yourself. Just so you know...we might need to rebuild again...but I didn't have anything to do with it this time…" He turned the lacrima around so that Laxus could see the interior of the beer hall.

He didn't really know what he was looking at until the dust and debris cleared and a shimmer of gold passed across the screen and the voice of his blonde angel cut through the air. "How pathetic are your mages? I'm the only one fighting you and you can't even fucking hit me…" Behind her, half of a wall had caved in and the roof looked like it had been blown clear off.

But he wasn't focusing on that at all, not when she was too glorious to look away from.

Her full lips were pulled into the sexiest sneer he had ever seen, and her eyes glimmered and shone and she ducked and weaved through the mass of black-suited men that looked coincidentally just like the ones that had just attacked the train.

Laxus watched in awe as she silently summoned Cancer, Aries and Virgo, while Leo stepped out of his own gate, and changed into her Taurus star dress and charged right back into the fray.

He was raring to go, chomping at the bit to join her in battle then fuck her raw until she learned to scream his name, and only his. He was so fucking hard and throbbing, watching her go to work. He almost moaned when he saw Lucy snap her fist out and deck a man so hard in the jaw that he swore he could hear it fucking shatter.

She was amazing. So strong, so resilient, so damn perfect. Her mind, her body, her smile. Everything about her was exactly what he wanted.

The comm turned back to Natsu's face, who looked thoughtful - it happened once in a blue moon - "We can handle everything here just fine. Luigi's got this shit so wrapped up that no one could even get a hit in edgewise. So we just let her do her thing." He shrugged. "Finish your request Sparky, you know that Fairy Tail doesn't half-ass anything…"

"Fine you fucking FireBug. Whatever. Check the guild marks of some of the mages, we were attacked too by Crescent Moon."

"Fuck. Toma okay?"

"Yeah. He's fine. They were after me."

"Wasn't that Drew's guild?"

"Yeah."

Two sets of Dragon's growled. "Stupid fucker." Natsu snorted out a laugh. "Obviously he underestimated Scary Lucy."

Laxus smiled. "No shit."

The King suddenly peeked over Laxus' shoulder. "Is that the young man that took my crown?"

Natsu paled and said a hurried goodbye before anyone could say another word.

Fairy Tail's Master shook his head and swiped a massive hand down his face. Only his fucking guild would be that goddamn strange….

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

"How did you get this?"

"What do you mean my boy? I didn't steal it if that's what you mean…"

"...no it's just…where did you find it? I thought that all these keys were accounted for."

"Hisui found it on a trip she took into Seven a couple of months ago in a small shop for antiques. The man didn't even know what he had and sold it to her for a small price. She doesn't practice anymore...not after that whole Dragon thing happened...and knew this key by sight. This is the payment I offer for your services, will you accept it?"

Large hands delicately took the small golden key from the King and Laxus nodded quickly. "I will."

Toma smiled softly. "Make sure it gets back to her safely...if memory serves, the Star-Bringer loves all her Spirits like an actual family."

The King turned away from the Legion and their leader and strode into the heart of Bosco's capital.

Four pairs of curious and disbelieving eyes peered down to look at the symbol at the top of the small key.

"Yo...boss man...isn't that…?"

"Yah Bix. It is."

"How did she get to Seven?"

Laxus shook his head, he didn't know that answer. "Dunno. But I want to find out."

The man lolled his tongue out and grinned. "She's going to fucking love you man. You know that right?"

A delicate smile lit up Laxus' face, one that his friends hadn't seen for years. "That's the plan. It starts with this key, I hope she'll be happy…"

But he already knew...Lucy would be so happy because Aquarius was coming home.


	4. The Mermaid

All Rights to Hiro Mashima

For **LadyAvaRushi** \- who noticed that this had been primarily written in Laxus' point of view (I threw in a little Lucy in this chapter...just to keep things spicy.)

BEWARE THE FEELINGS! THE ANGRY BLUE FISH LADY!

* * *

 **~Lightbulb~**

 **Chapter 4: The Mermaid**

 _In which Laxus brings home a long-lost member of Lucy's family._

* * *

Bickslow whistled lowly. "Damn boss, you sure know how to pick 'em…I remember when she was a naive little girl that complained about her rent money and moaned continuously about her team destroying everything in sight."

Laxus sighed. "You do remember who her team is right? A wildfire with a Demon living inside him, a brooding popsicle with everlasting ice abilities, the Queen of 'slash first ask questions later,' and the most terrifying Dragon Slayer anyone has ever seen...including Acnologia." Laxus shivered, remembering some of the most recent accounts of Wendy's abilities. It seemed that female Dragon's wore the pants and kicked the most ass in a nest and it seemed to translate equally into the Slayers. No one would ever think to look at the blue haired girl twice like that, but everyone had learned to duck and cover when Wendy went full out.

She had once put out END's hellfire, almost choking him to death just by removing all the air around Natsu when the Demon had stolen the last bite of her blueberry muffin. The word territorial didn't even seem to cut it.

"So what? You think that Natsu rubbed off on our resident Celestial Mage?"

Fairy Tail's Master sighed and shook his head as he and his team watched Erza direct the guild members around to rebuild the shattered roof and collapsed walls. He sent a quick prayer of thanks to the Gods above and below for having a wood make Mage in their guild, even if no one could follow her thought processes. "No, I think Blondie had this shit inside her all along and just needed to grow into knowing her potential. After Alvarez...no even before that...after we disbanded for that year, she had been different. Taking quests more seriously, going on solo missions for the experience, training and growing her magic...she changed for the better I think. She doesn't rely so much on other people. Lucy has turned into her own knight in shining armour. She saves herself now."

Freed stepped up placing a single hand on the hilt of his rapier. "Do you think her impressive feats have anything to do with that key you have?"

The blonde nodded. "I don't doubt it. I once caught her in the training room sparring with Capricorn and Loke looking like she had been going at it for a least a couple of hours, she was exhausted and pale and was probably one strong gust away from keeling over. The goat asked her if she wanted to stop, but she said no and that she needed to keep going to get as strong as possible. She was done playing the damsel in distress and wanted to be the one to save her family for once."

At the time he had thought she meant in general and applauded her conviction and strength of will. Now...it sounded like she had meant something entirely different. Laxus had a feeling that something had happened that had to do with Aquarius.

He respected the hell out of her, but now he wanted to be her strength. He wanted to be the person that would hold her up in the times that her impressive conviction wasn't enough. He could be that other half of her, shoulder half of her burdens. Laxus would never dream of taking away her identity, he knew better than anyone the shadow that she had been under for most of her life, as he had lived through that problem as well. First her father and the name Heartfilia and the fact that she had been known as an heiress, as Lucky Lucy. Then, as she had branched out and left her sheltered life to start making her dreams as a practising mage come to fruition with her true family...she had met up with three of the most prolific Fairy Tail mages the guild had ever seen. She had been dwarfed behind her best friend the Salamander, her first girlfriend the mighty Titania, and even her big brother Stripper McGee.

Finally, after standing off to the side the proverbial 'cheerleader' for so many years, she had finally made a name for herself that was her own. Even if she had been sacrificed to a giant clock-fish-castle, kidnapped time and time again, lost a piece of her heart and her father, and was left behind by her family, she had come out the other end a little wiser, a whole lot stronger, and looked like she finally grew into her skin.

She was no longer that scared little girl that jumped at every bump under the bed. She was a grown ass, sexy as hell woman that could hold her own in any fight and gave him serious heart palpitations when she flashed him that sunny smile.

Laxus watched his guild mates scurry around like ants hauling wooden beams while Gajeel used his metal creating abilities to hammer and nail them into place. He didn't mind that the guild was in shambles again, the fix up would just add to its character.

And then he saw her.

His Lucy.

Well...not yet _his_ Lucy yet, but hopefully, he could change that soon.

She had thrown her golden hair into a messy long braid that cascaded down her back and was wearing a simple white t-shirt and overalls to protect her legs and what looked like steel toed boots for safety. She was sweating and dirty from the dust, but he had never seen her so beautiful.

She lifted a beam of wood onto her shoulder and called out Taurus to her side, eyeing her best friend and brother with a suspicious look while they argued over the best placement for the new wooden bar top. The bull made his usual pervy comment (Insert Dragon growl here, the lightning mage was truly territorial over his little mate) and got to work using his impressive strength to corral Natsu into not burning down the other half of the guild hall.

Laxus almost giggled (almost, he wasn't a twelve-year-old girl so he stifled the offending noise). It was amazing how well Lucy knew her guild mates, her family. She was everything to them, and in turn gave them her whole heart, a shoulder to lean on and all the light in the world to guide them home.

She bent over, scooping a couple of nails into her hand and a stray hammer. Swinging her arms over for a single blow, she drove the iron nail into the wood.

Laxus' mind fuzzed out while his mouth filled with enough water to fill a bathtub. She was delicious, her breasts bouncing with every hammer strike, her skin glistening in the hot sun.

His mind was filled with dichotomy. On one side, he wanted to peel off her clothes layer by layer and follow the path of that droplet of sweat that was sliding down the column of her neck with his tongue. On the other...he wanted to drop to his knees and revel in her presence, worship the ground she walked on and place her on a pedestal so high not even he could reach her.

He growled. Gods, he hated what his mind had turned into. Couldn't he just...love someone without his brain turning into a mushy puddle full of weird ideas and strange thoughts?

All he wanted to do was show her that he appreciated everything that she had done, everything she had become, and how amazing a woman she was without it turning awkward.

Patting his right pocket to make sure that Aquarius was safe, he started forward towards his half destroyed beer hall towards his guiding star.

She was the Star-bringer, the most powerful Celestial mage seen in almost half a century.

She was Lucy of Fairy Tail, the light of his life and successor for the guild.

His smile grew crooked.

She was going to be his.

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

Laxus and his entourage cut quite a path through the half fixed guild, making a b-line directly for the Celestial Mage.

He was so intent on his target that he didn't even notice when the Thunder Legion had dropped off from behind him to observe him from a safe distance, nor did he realise the strange looks from some of the members when they tried to greet him but were ignored.

His face was a blank mass and those with enough smarts in their brains inched backwards just the slightest. They hadn't seen him this unreadable since before Tartaros.

He stopped directly behind Lucy and waited for her to turn around and notice his hulking figure. It didn't take long, he was so large and as his shoulders were broad enough that he eclipsed the sunlight from hitting the little blonde.

When she noticed him – finally – she paled. "Uhm…Sparky! I mean Master Laxus…you're back…uh…we had a… _situation_ , but I handled it. _Pleasepleasedon'tblameNatsuitwasn'thisfault_!" She stammered out then bowed her head. "It was me. I forgot my own strength and didn't realise until after it had all happened that I had…uhm…destroyed the guild hall."

He could hear shame in her voice as she whispered that last part out as if it was one of her deepest darkest secrets. However, he could also hear a hint of unabashed pride as she spoke the words 'my own strength.'

His facial expression didn't change but internally delighted at being able to make Lucy squirm, the bright embarrassed blush on her cheeks that was creeping down her chest was endearing as was her fidgeting. He liked that he could get under her skin like this.

"I'm so sorry Master, I know you put me in charge and I fucked up and-" He finally frowned and held his gigantic hand up to stop her thoughts from going down that road. He didn't want her to start second guessing herself, nor think that this outcome was something terrible. Laxus was sure that if anyone else had been the one fighting – including himself – the guild hall wouldn't just be missing half a wall and some of the roof. She had strong control over her impressive pool of magic and used her brain when she fought.

Also…he really needed her to stop calling him Master. It was giving him a slight problem in the pants department. When anyone else said that word, it sounded like a title. When she uttered those syllables passed those pink lips of hers, his brain upstairs stopped working while it awoke the Dragon downstairs.

"Enough. Everyone is safe, Laki and Iron Brows are doing everything they can to put the hall back in order, and you didn't level half the city while you fought, I think everyone would call this a win-win situation. You kicked some serious ass and kept our home standing in the process."

He finally smirked at her, his eyes glinting with something that Lucy had trouble placing and he leant down slightly so that his nose was almost touching hers. He watched as her pupils dilated so wide her eyes were almost entirely black. "I am so fucking proud of you Blondie. This," He gestured around to their safe family (who were all watching the proceedings with varying degrees of curiosity and amusement completely silent) "is why I appointed you my successor. You are smart, resourceful, and have the strength to keep going when most would have nothing left to give. Dammit, Blondie, you give everyone so much light in their lives you shine like a fucking beacon."

 _Whoops._ That last part slipped out while he let his mouth run away from him. _Oh well…_

Collective gasps were heard around the guild from most of the members and Natsu yelled jovially from the corner of the room where he had _finally_ stopped bickering with Gray. "Oi! Sparkplug! Did you just say that Luigi will be the next Guild Master?"

He didn't look away from Lucy's wide eyes, her blush deepening exponentially the longer the attention of the room was focused solely on her. "Fuck yes I did. If anything happens to me…she'll be Fairy Tail's next Master. You got a problem with that?"

Laxus could hear the smile in Natsu's voice when he spoke. "Hell no…I bet you a million jewels that no one could find anyone better." For once, the blonde man had to agree with him, and as a collective cheer went up from all around them, it seemed that the rest of Fairy Tail had the same thought.

He swept her up into a crushing hug (he just couldn't help himself any longer) as Lucy tipped her head back and laughed, eyes sparkling with happiness and mirth. He was more than glad to see her this way and vowed to keep her joyful for as long as he possibly could. Even if she never saw him as anything other than a friend, or Gods forbid, a brother, he would be forever hers.

Forever enthralled in the woman named Lucy.

The kegs were pulled out and everyone partied like it was the last day on Earthland, or as they called it here…a Tuesday night at Fairy Tail.

As the evening wore on, Laxus watched as his little mate danced and had fun with her friends and family. When all but the core mages that had been there on the front lines of Alvarez had gone home (mainly the newer recruits and such) he deemed it high time to give his present to Lucy.

More than anything, he wanted to know just what happened all those years ago, and why she never said a damn thing about it.

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

Before Lucy heard his voice, she could somehow sense his demanding presence. Everywhere Laxus went he was remembered.

He was a truly unforgettable person, what with his beautiful but deadly magic, striking features (including a jaw that she was sure could cut glass and a backside that was so taught she could bounce jewels off of it), lickable scar, those muscles, his smirk, and that stupidly iconic coat that he just couldn't get rid of.

Oh, and his eyes. Those stormy grey eyes that filled with his emotions whether or not they were reflected on his face. Lucy knew from experience – many, _many_ experiences – that she would melt into a pool of overheated aroused mush when he turned his piercing gaze onto her.

He was too much, and yet not enough…all at the same time.

Over the past year and a half, she knew that something was brewing between them. The playful banter, the easy silences, the ability to flirt with each other without it becoming awkward. He had slowly turned into one of her closest friends – excluding her team of course – and there were some things that she told him that she had never even told Natsu.

For one, she felt like the trust in between them was rock solid, absolute. Somehow even more resolute than her and Erza, or Gray or even her best pink-haired friend. Sadly, she knew it had its roots in that single year where they were gone chasing their dreams, or running from their demons in the darkness that followed them all, and she had been left to pick up the pieces of her life without a single person to lean on, save for her Celestial Spirits.

Lucy had spilt it all, well…mostly all of her feelings to Thunder Thighs when she couldn't stand the overwhelming oppression any longer. She told him of her loneliness, and the need to get stronger, of her drive to become someone that her family could count on in the future instead of look out for. Yes, they would always have each other's back, but she wanted to keep her family just as safe as they kept her.

She learned of Laxus' journey after he had awoken and found Fairy Tail razed to the ground and deserted. He and the Thunder Legion had travelled towards Blue Pegasus (Bob welcoming them all with open arms and stubbly cheeks) to take on enough work to keep himself fed. He never once thought that Fairy Tail was over and looked forward to seeing everyone once again.

They spoke of their families. Her mother, the loss of her father, Michelle, how things with Natsu and Happy had gone back to the way they were before the split, but somehow they didn't fit together anymore, like two puzzle pieces with misshapen edges. He spat out words of longing and loss over his Grandfather while cursing the man who was his father.

Then…Alvarez. That had been a tough conversation, but they had shouldered it together. Laxus divulged his need to live up to his Grandfather's name and the legacy he had left behind in the wake of his sacrifice. Lucy had never seen the behemoth cry before, but it was humbling to know just how much he actual felt behind that wall of granite that he had raised around his heart.

Not once did she mention Aquarius, still feeling immensely saddened and slightly guilty over the whole ordeal – even though Scorpio told her multiple times that it was like an extended vacation for the mermaid and because she knew, _she just knew_ that her family would feel so terrible for the sacrifice she made. So she still kept it in.

Lucy had heard that Aquarius' key would show up in Earthland sometime and resolved to look for it. That was the reason behind her getting stronger than ever. Most keys were buried or lost now, but a golden one would pop up in the news. Requests would call for a strong mage, and that's what she intended to do, and what she achieved. In her travels and solo quests, she had collected a couple of new silver keys, but a golden one had yet to appear.

She had trained too hard and so well in fact that this year she was sure she was a contender for the S-class trials, and not just as a partner this time.

But this last year and a half, with all its trials and hurts – going through something as petty as a cheating boyfriend notwithstanding – had been tolerable because of her time with her new Guild Master.

She had tried to date, to see if her feelings for the Blonde man were something genuine, or perhaps just infatuation. But she had held back with Drew every single step of the way, and when she had found him cheating on her with that other woman, she had felt two very distinct and separate emotions.

Rage, at both Drew and herself for not seeing the warning signs that were literally everywhere.

And an overpowering sense of relief.

When Laxus had stepped up behind her during her confrontation from the dick formally known as her boyfriend, and he had only spoken about her with pride colouring her tones but didn't make a single fucking move to 'save her' she _knew_.

She goddamn knew that whatever she felt for that stupid Thunder God was nothing like what she felt for any other man anywhere in the entire world. It wasn't just lust for his body – but damn did she do that anyways, that man was still in the prime of his life and she intended to have her way with that rippling tattoo on his chest someday – it was also admiration, pride over who he had become in recent years, and dare she say…the beginnings of love.

So, as she sat on her bar stool amid the party on a Tuesday night in the guild hall of her childhood dreams, she shuddered pleasantly when she felt Laxus' heady gaze on her back.

It was as if he was physically caressing her, intimate and warm, and she was even more surprised when he stepped up even closer towards her and placed a single, innocuous box down on the counter top beside her right hand.

She arched a single eyebrow while he kept his face passively blank. "What's this Thunder Thighs?"

"The payment for the last job my team and I went on."

"Why are you giving it to me then?" She drained the last of the fruity concoction Mira had thrust in her hand a half hour before.

He smiled – not a smirk, not a half-assed grin, a true smile that melted her heart just a smidgen more – and winked at her. Familiar heat curled in her limbs at the gesture. It was those stupid eyes of his, they were dangerous. "None of us can use it like you can, and believe me…I think you'll want what's inside it." He tapped the box once with one finger.

Curiosity overwhelming her, she placed a ginger hand on the lid and slowly opened the box.

Dumbfounded silence filled the space between them as the air crackled with anticipation.

Lucy's brain ground to a halt, her thoughts centred on a single point that throbbed in time with her heart.

 _Aquarius._

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

A stifled sob rents the air so quietly that Laxus almost missed it.

In the next moment, he was pulling Lucy from her bar stool into his lap and curling around her heaving form as she silently shook in his arms. She didn't utter another sound, the grief and relief she must have been feeling rendering her cries mute.

Laxus ran gentle fingers through her silky hair, revelling in the softness, but not allowing it to distract him from the woman in his arms. She was his priority, not his annoyingly uncomfortable arousal at her scent and the way she had fit so nicely against his broad chest.

The only one to notice something strange was Mira. It was like the Demon barmaid had a sixth sense when something out of the ordinary was happening. Leaving her post at the end of the newly installed bar top (gleaming and crazy clean as always) Mira softly whispered to Lucy – which Laxus was thankful for – asking if she needed anything. Not once did Mira ask if she was alright because obviously, she wasn't.

Laxus frowned slightly when Lucy pulled herself out of his lap and slowly pieced herself together, wiping her eyes on a towel the She-Demon had handed her. He wasn't ready to let her go yet.

"Just a glass of water please Mira, no ice."

He had to hand it to her, the girl was crazy strong and her voice didn't waver or crack in the slightest. Laxus also had a sneaking suspicion that she wasn't thirsty, but he wanted to see what happened next, so he made no comment.

Lucy turned towards him, her face bowed as she tried to shield her red puffy eyes from the partiers around them. "Where did you find her?" She whispered low.

"The King. He said that Hisui found that key in a shop when she was vacationing in Seven. The Princess knew of her and what she meant to you, so she bought the key and brought it back. Toma decided to give it to me as payment for our last job. I think there is a note from the Princess in the bottom of the box to read when you're ready for that."

She only nodded, smiling softly towards Mira when the glass of cool water was placed before her.

Lucy held the golden key suspended above the water for three full minutes before Laxus grunted. "What are you waiting for?"

"I'm afraid…"

"Of what? Of her?"

She laughed, the sound mending something in his heart that had broken at the look of sorrow on her face earlier. "No, not her. We've been communicating…sort of…since I lost her."

"How?"

"Scorpio, her boyfriend."

"Then why are you afraid?"

"Because of them." She pointed towards her team, then swept her arm out around in a general fashion capturing all her family in its wake. "I don't want their pity, or their sadness, or their guilt…"

He grabbed her hand that wasn't poised over the water and growled. "Listen to me, Lucy. They are your family, and I know whatever the fuck this is, they will not give you pity. Did you pity Ice nuts or END over there when you found out about their fathers? Or Erza when she revealed her past with the Tower or Jellal? Did you pity the Seis when they told you about what Brain did to them?"

She shook her head slowly, and he sighed, relieved that she was still thinking clearly. "Then you should have faith in us as well to give you what you need. There might be sadness or guilt. But never pity."

Blushing prettily, she gave him a small smile and leant forward placing a single lingering kiss against his cheek. "Thank you, Laxus."

Heat blazed through him as she said his name, phantom lips still caressing his heated cheek as she turned away, but not before he caught something in her eyes. Some emotion that he felt reflected in his own.

Laxus knew in that moment that the feelings he held for her weren't one sided. When tonight was all over, he would drag that little minx of a mate away to his house and tell her in no uncertain terms just what she meant to him.

"I am the person who connects the road to the stellar spirit world, thou shalt respond to the calling and pass through the gate…OPEN GATE TO THE WATER BARER!"

"AQUARIUS!"

His attention was quickly diverted by a gigantic blue mermaid exploding out of the tiny glass of water in a shower blue sparkles. The revelry around them ground to a halt as most people questioned why Lucy had summoned her strongest spirit – that seemed to genuinely hate being summoned mind you – in the middle of the guild hall.

In the corner, her team started to wonder just when the last time they had actually seen the mermaid spirit in the flesh as it were. Lucy had whipped out some impressive water magic in the last few years (sometimes rivalling Juvia but no one would say a word because the water mage was touchy and prone to bawling rivers of tears at the slightest provocation) but Aquarius had been absent from their jobs.

"Tch. Brat…took you long enough."

Lucy gaped up at her friend for long moments before peals of laughter spilt from her mouth at the same time as tears streamed down her face. "A-Aquarius! I've missed you!"

The mermaid's eyes softened just a smidge before she sniffed. "Nice to see that Jackal didn't kill you. That would have been messy and I was just getting used to seeing your annoying face when you summoned me. The Gods know it would have been too tedious to break in another mage. You finally know how to hang on to something so that you don't fucking drown when I attack you."

The tiny blonde only smiled wearily up at her friend.

"How long has it been since I've been here?"

"Three and a half years."

Laxus took a quick look towards her team to see their faces white as a sheet. They obviously didn't even suspect something was amiss with Lucy or the fact that Aquarius hadn't been to Earthland in almost four full years. He hated to see the pain they were in as the lightbulbs went off over their heads in quick succession.

"Where was my key found?"

"Seven. By Hisui."

"Hmmm. Maybe you should have left me with the Princess. At least she would be able to find a boyfriend faster than you brat."

"Ugh. Shut up you old bag. I had a boyfriend…but he was…unfaithful. So I had to kick him in the nuts across town."

For the first time, he saw Aquarius smile. And by the looks on everyone's faces, it was their first time as well. "Finally grew a backbone didn't you? Well. Can't say I'm not happy about that. I'm going back to Scorpio, call me anytime. Same contract as before."

"I missed you."

"Missed you too brat."

Then she was gone in a flash of golden light.

Lucy shone a radiant smile at him though slow tears still tracked down her face. "Thank you so much Laxus." He barely caught her in time as she launched her body at him in a hug that tackled him to the floor off of his bar stool.

"No problem…Lucy. Anything for you."

She opened her mouth to comment on that last sentence of his – that just fucking slipped out again, goddammit – but was interrupted by a throat being cleared.

Her team stood behind her, ashen faced and sullen, but curious.

Laxus knew they would have questions, so he scooped up Lucy in his arms, settling her down into his lap while he sat on his recently vacated seat and waited to hear the story.

"What did Aquarius mean when she said she hadn't been here in three and a half years?" Gray's voice cracked with barely suppressed emotion.

Lucy snuggled deeper into his hold and Laxus could barely suppress a smirk at the fact that she wasn't trying to get away from him, but tried to get comfortable in his presence. She sighed when she apparently found a comfortable nook. "You better sit down for this. It's a long story."


	5. The Relief

All Rights to Hiro Mashima

This second to the last chapter is dedicated to **samuelbryant17** who has had very insightful and lovely comments on all the chapters. Thank you for your ideas.

BEWARE! THE TALK! THE PINK-HAIRED MENACE! A RAVENOUS DRAGON!

* * *

 **~ Lightbulb ~**

 **Chapter 5: The Relief**

 _In which Laxus finally hears just how strong his mate truly is._

* * *

"…It was Mard Geer. He cast the spell that turned that giant cube thing…into a living creature… _Alegria_."

Lucy takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly as she fiddles with Aquarius' new key between her fingers.

"Out of everyone who was fighting, I was the only one left. After everything was over I was told by Horologium that it was him who had saved me…I couldn't find anyone else, not a single person from Fairy Tail…"

Laxus curled himself around her shivering frame. She was so strong, so resilient, but talking about that day that she had lost part of her family would shake anyone's resolve.

"Instead, I found Tartaros. At first…it was only the grunts, and they wanted to have that promotion that Mard promised."

After they had been released from the Plutogrim, no one had even questioned what happened during that time frame from when they were caught in that disgusting spell, to when they were released once again. No one asked how they were let go, not one person had ever thought that their little blonde mage had anything to do with it, because they were all on the inside of the ravenous beast, turned into muscle and viscera and _tissue_.

She had been keeping this in for too long, and he was annoyed at himself for not asking sooner, annoyed at his brain for not even thinking about it. The looks on everyone's faces confirmed that they knew what he was feeling to a more extreme degree. While he and his team had been unconscious and fending for their lives on the bottom of that cube-monster-thing…Everyone else had been in the middle of becoming part of the cube-monster-thing. And then there was loss…so much loss that everyone had become a little bit selfish with their desires. The Dragons were gone for good, Absolute Zero had taken then all by surprise and some…like Erza…had to leave to keep their sanity.

With Fairy Tail gone – physically and figuratively at that time – there was nothing keeping them all together. Bonds were broken, bonds he thought had been forged by something stronger than steel and iron – namely team destructo – but be had been wrong.

They had all scattered to the four points of a compass at the drop of a hat, leaving nothing but a smouldering building behind for him and his Legion to find.

But he can't place the blame on them, those that had fought Tartaros while he was basically asleep did all they could, but sometimes…things happen to those who are strong that break them down for a while, he is equally at fault here. He had seen the change in her, found her training within an inch of her life, smelling of quiet desperation and determination. He thought she was taking control of her life, becoming what she was always meant to be.

The Star-Bringer, the most powerful Celestial Mage since Anna. She had surpassed her own expectations, he knew that. And he had thought that she was happy.

Her smiles touched her eyes still, and Bickslow had once commented that her soul glowed bright yellow…like the sun she was.

But in reality, she was in pain, mentally in anguish. She was _determined_ to never let any of her family down again and _desperate_ for those she held dear to never leave her. It seemed that all her life, those who she loved…left her alone.

He would never be that person. Laxus had finally found something… _someone_ that meant the world to him, and he would _never_ , not in a million years, leave her behind.

"I called out Sagittarius to help, and he did well against the grunts, but Lamy was too much. So I sent him back and called Virgo instead. I called Loke next to help with Torafuzer. But he wasn't alone. Jackal came for me as well, in a snit over Natsu or something… I tried to use the River of Stars to deal with him, but I was too weak."

Laxus' lip curled as the tension rose, Natsu's guilt practically suffocating him with its stench.

"I forgot about his curse and let my whip hit him. His seal was placed, and the River of Stars exploded. I was left weaponless. The next thing I knew, Jackal set an explosion underneath me, sending me sailing onto the ground. Leo and Virgo kept fighting, but I knew that it was a matter of time before something else happened, and I was right."

Lucy snuggled down into the man who held her, taking the strength she needed for the next part of her story. "Two more Demons found us just after Jackal destroyed my leg…Torafuzer brought the curse of black water, and ugh…Lamy. Gods I hated her."

"Who the hell is Lamy?" Laxus voice cut through the silence like a hot knife, relieving the tension.

"Oh, this really creepy bunny Demon that worshipped the ground Kyouka walked on and thought that Jackal was the hottest thing since sliced bread."

"What the hell?"

"Yah, she had this really annoying laugh too, but she was killed when Jackal wanted to be the one to bring me to Mard Geer. Damn, I was so surprised, but I guess there isn't honour amongst Demons. I've never seen a head explode before…"

Laxus couldn't resist any longer, the Dragon in his mind whined at her hollow tone. She was hurting and he didn't want that to happen anymore. He carded his hands through her blonde and kissed her forehead like it was the most natural thing in the world to do.

And it was to him, and it seemed that it brought Lucy back to the present. (Unfortunately for them, the other members of their so-called family watched them with different amounts of credulousness on their faces and Laxus knew they were in for a rough questioning session when all this was done.)

( _Especially_ from Mira and her little sister. Those two just couldn't help but be attracted to gossip.)

"I didn't have any other choice…so while Jackal was distracted by Virgo and Loke, I called a third Spirit…Aquarius from the cursed water. She answered my call, but told me I was stupid to do it seeing as the strain on my magic was almost enough to kill me. But it was either that or give up and die at the hands of the Demons. That's not who I am, not who Fairy Tail is."

A sharp gasp passed through Freed's lips, his mouth gaping like a wing fish. Laxus shot a questioning look at him, but the leader of his Legion either disregarded him completely or didn't see. All he heard (with the help of his enhanced hearing of course) was a quiet "that's not supposed to be possible."

He eyed the blonde in his lap, was summoning three spirits really that big of a deal?

She stopped and collected her thoughts, swallowing thickly, and then she dropped her voice to a whisper. "If it had been any other Demon other than Torafuzer, Aquarius would have been enough to sweep them away, but…"

Gajeel grunted from the back of the room, his eyes far away from the memories. "He can swim through anything, that bastard."

She nodded, and then continued, her whisper getting louder to the point where they didn't need to strain to hear her. "I was going to die, I knew it, and she knew it. I didn't have enough magic to sustain them all for too long. I was running on fumes. Virgo and Leo were gone, sent back to the Celestial Plane from attacks. So Aquarius suggested something that I didn't even know was possible…"

They waited in silence for three heartbeats.

"…She told me to summon the Celestial Spirit King."

Immediately eyes bugged out everywhere, while excited gasps and exclamations of pride came from all sides. Above it all, Natsu's voice called over the din. "That's insane Luce! You should call out Mustache man all the time! He must be so powe-"

"NO! I will never, _ever_ call him again, even if the only other choice is to _die_." Her voice cracked across the room like her whip, while her eyes flashed with so much hidden pain and anger and hatred for herself that Laxus physically flinched away.

Never had he seen something so revolting in her face, and he never wanted to see it again. The lone tear that tracked from her eye to her chin slayed him, body and soul.

"Why?" Her best friend's voice was small and sad, and Lucy smiled tightly.

"Because, Natsu, the price to summon the most powerful Celestial Spirit is too high, it asks for too much." Her breath caught in her throat. "This was the result of my actions, of my choice, between her…the Spirt that I had the strongest bond to, and my family." At the end of her speech, Lucy pulled a small silver chain from around her neck, at the end, a tarnished once golden key hung dully, the shaft missing and the head twisted and utterly beyond repair.

How had none of them noticed it before?

"I had to destroy her key. I had to actually…w-will her bond with me broken. I had to shatter a piece of my heart. It was the most painful thing I've ever been through." Laxus could see it in her eyes. Lucy had rewritten the book of END, taking on his pain and suffering, but this…this willful act of destruction for Lucy had been too much.

No words were spoken, not a single gasp was heard. So Lucy continued with her tale, just wanting to finish it, get this terrible part of her life out of the way so that she can finally just _move on_.

Finally, move the hell on.

"The Spirit King came out, destroyed the cube, and set everyone free while battling with Mard Geer. When all was said and done, Tartaros still wasn't fucking dead. Jackal was still there, still alive, and I was… _distraught._ "

Laxus could hear her swallow thickly. "After all of it, everything I had given, Aquarius protected me once more. She gave me her magic, which she can only do once in her whole immortal life, to keep me alive even after she was gone…"

Lucy leant over one of his large arms and stuck a single finger in that forgotten glass of water. The liquid scooted up her arm and made thick bracelets at a single whim like it was a sentient being. "…the ability to use water in whatever way I want." Her voice dropped low into a hum of remembrance. "She said she hated me…but I knew better, I knew she loved me. And this," the water flowed in figure eights above their heads, "is proof of that."

"For a week I thought I had killed her, and forcefully kept Leo from coming out of his gate to speak to me. I collapsed from exhaustion and when I woke up a day and a half later…everything was gone, Fairy Tail was destroyed and nothing was left. Leo finally overpowered me when I was unconscious and was there to tell me that there was nothing left for me here. I moved to Crocus and Leo and Scorpio let Aquarius and I communicate through them. Until the King let her come through her broken gate, just once. Brandish was spewing this absolute horseshit about Momma and I guess she had always loved Layla like a sister, so she came through and talked to us. After, she told me that her key would suddenly show up somewhere in Earthland. That's why I had been taking so many solo missions lately. I wanted to find her before someone else did…"

He knew what she meant when she said "everything was gone" because he had gone through that feeling as well. Waking up from an unconscious state and finding the levelled building that had been Fairy Tail, his grandfather mysteriously gone and his guild mates scattered to the wind. He and Lucy had shared that part with each other already, in their late night slash early morning talks.

Laxus knew where her fear stemmed from… _abandonment_ , as did his own. She had lost too much in one lifetime. Her mother, father, Michelle, Aquarius…then when the walls had caved in and she had given everything in herself to give, including a family member, she had lost the family that she had sacrificed everything for and her best friend had left her with a heavy burden to 'keep the guild together' or 'protect Fairy Tail' while the dumbass trained or something. Lucy – she had told him once after one too many glasses of hard cider – couldn't look Natsu in the eye anymore because she had failed him, failed to keep his home alive and intact while he was out doing whatever he needed to do. She had lost herself to the darkness within her mind for seven days and when she had pulled herself out; her one directive from the person who had opened the world to her had already gone up in smoke.

While he still smarted from a father that had abused and used him, to the fact that he had abandoned his grandfather and the way Fairy Tail had always been when he had set up the Thunder Palace. So caught up in his own head and the need for power and prestige, he hadn't realised that he was turning into Ivan so spectacularly until it had hit him in the gut like a solid fist. He wasn't as scared of someone abandoning him, as he was of being the person to abandon the people that he loves once again.

But…he had found solace in her, and he hoped that Lucy had found a measure of healing in him. She meant the world to him, and the fact that she listened, jut listened to him rant and rave made him so inexplicably happy some days that he couldn't wipe that dopey grin off his own face.

With her part of the story finished, Lucy heaved a great sigh, her shoulders drooping in exhaustion. But, to Laxus at least, she seemed…almost relieved. This secret had been weighing so heavily on her for so long.

She was strong. But stupid and stubborn, and he loved her more now than ever.

His voice rumbled through her back as she pressed herself to him fully (his Dragon absolutely losing his shit over that little action, preening at the fact that his mate was looking to him for comfort and stability) and continued what he knew. "I had been looking out for keys for a while now, and an SS-class request came in from Toma. The reward was that key, which Hisui found somewhere in Seven while on vacation. The Princess had recognised it and brought it back, intending to give it to Lucy somehow."

Lucy caught his eye then with a bemused quirk of her eyebrow as if asking him why he was looking for keys when he couldn't even use them.

He shook his head imperceptibly. _Tell you later…_

She seemed to understand that, which he was grateful for. He didn't need the She-Demon all up in his business about this shit.

He also loved the fact that they could have these silent conversations without saying one word, it made their bond stronger, more intimate.

An oppressive heavy weight settled in the air. Now that this secret was out and about, what would happen? Would his whole speech about her family not pitying her crumble around his ears? He sure hoped not, because he didn't like to be a liar.

Of all the people he thought would make a statement, it was the last one he had ever thought of.

"What can we do to help you Bunny? I know this shit is heavy, believe me…even though that bastard was ornery as fuck constantly, he was still my Pops. We know what it's like to lose someone, but that sacrifice you made for us…I could never imagine. You're the fucking strongest out of all of us Bunny."

Gajeel. Taciturn, grumpy, pulls-old-nails-outa-stuff-for-a-snack-cause-he-thinks-they-taste-better-that-way Black Steel, showed everyone that he had a softer side. Obviously, Levy was the one that saw it more than once in a blue moon, but who is he to judge? Laxus' mother had told him once that if he kept scowling his face would freeze that way…and he didn't listen. He had a perpetual asshole expression that couldn't be helped and exactly two soft spots. One was reserved for all baby animals of Earthland – because he wasn't a heartless creature dammit – and the other was for Lucy.

But it seemed that lots of people had a soft spot for her.

Lucy giggled and wiped the single tear track off her face, giving Gajeel a tentative smile. "Thanks, Gaj, I know Metalicana and all the Dragons gave their lives for the Slayers, and I know you all miss them still. But we've moved on, we're stronger now…yah? I've moved on from that part of my life now. It'll always be a bad memory, but with Aquarius back, I can focus more on the future." Laxus watched Natsu's face fall a bit, just like it did every time the Dragons or Igneel were mentioned, but that stupid ball of fire bounced back like always and gave Lucy a wide grin and a small nod of his head when she cocked her own in a silent question.

"We're Fairy Tail, Luce. We'll be just fine." Lucy nodded at Natsu's words, and perhaps their friendship could repair those puzzle piece edges that just didn't quite fit before.

Lucy's resolve seemed to let everyone breathe just a little better.

Until a certain sly drunk decided to put her two jewels in.

Loudly.

"So…what the crap is going on with your two anyways? You doing the horizontal tango or what…?" Cana's admittedly rude remark broke the tension surrounding the group of mages in the beer hall. Her eyes glowed with mischief and mirth while guzzling something that smelled suspiciously like his own private stash of bourbon that sat waiting for Laxus in his desk.

Until that moment Laxus didn't truly realise how this all looked to someone who didn't actually know about all this mate business. He was curled around this girl like a territorial Dragon hoarding some gold (her hair _was_ seriously as close to gold as he had ever seen, but that wasn't the point) while Lucy had sat in his lap without saying a single word about it, nor did she move away.

In fact, until Cana had spoken and broken whatever little spell they were under and Lucy held so still that Laxus actually wanted to physically check whether or not she was turned into stone once again – still feeling a bit guilty about that shit – did he realise that Lucy had been methodically stroking over the skin of his large hand with her thumb in slow smooth circles.

Damn, did he ever miss the loss of that tiny movement when it was gone.

"Uhm. What? Come again?" Lucy feigned innocence for a few precious seconds until-

"You two are fucking…right? Doing the do? Mashing sexy bits? Fornicating?"

Dear sweet Mavis, he _hated_ Cana's unfiltered mouth right at this second. He snarled at her, affronted. "Goddamnit Cana! Shut your drunken face hole for once in your life."

"Stop dodging the question idiot! It's a simple yes or no answer!"

"It's none of your damn business alright?"

The drunk's eyes moved off his face to peer at Lucy's. Laxus couldn't see her – as Lucy was still sitting completely still on his lap, her head staring straight ahead – but he hoped that whatever Cana was looking for she would find with his little mate and pull him out of the spotlight.

"…Lucy?"

A choking cough came from the blonde girl and a small stuttering fake-ass laugh left Lucy's lips. "Uhm…no?"

Cana cackled while the She-Demon smirked behind the bar. "You don't sound so sure yourself Lu. He must not be very memorable between the sheets if you're not entirely sure."

That shit…was taking it too far. He was a beast in the sack, he had to be because he literally was half beast. Half-Dragon. He was good. He was the Thunder God and he was _very_ talented with his penis thank you very much.

Just as he was going to yell something at Cana that was probably a little too much information and perverted to be spreading around the guild hall, Lucy's dumbass best friend, full of pink hair and gigantic grins, spilt the proverbial beans as it were.

"Oi! Lucy's his mate so back the fuck off Cana before we hear all about their weird sex acts that would burn our ears off."

Well…shit.

If it was even possible, Lucy grew even more rigid in his lap and he thought that maybe she wasn't breathing properly because she was completely silent for all of three seconds.

Those seconds both terrified Laxus to his core and gave him a small reprieve to think as everyone gaped silently (and confusedly) at the pair on display.

Except for Natsu, who's eyes widened in fear at the shit-storm he had coming to him once all this mate business was sorted out.

One second…was he ready? Did he really want Lucy to know just how much she meant to him?

Two seconds…of course, he was ready! He was a God of Ishgar and a Wizard Saint. He never backed down from a challenge and he loved the woman before him with his whole being. She had a right to know everything, although he could do with not having everyone else being privy to this moment. The peanut gallery was not helping.

Three seconds…he was going to skin the scales off of Natsu and hang that Fire Dragon's pelt on his wall as a fucking trophy. That idiot was in for a world of hurt.

"…mate?"

Her whispered word captured his entire attention. He coughed awkwardly to clear the block in his throat out that wasn't allowing him to fucking _speak his mind_ -

"Are you positive Laxus? Are you sure it's me?"

Now…that was something interesting. She wasn't screaming…or crying at her misfortune. Nor hitting him for being a big perverted Dragon that he thought he was most of the time.

She was speaking to him – slightly strangely as she was still bean-pole straight sitting on his lap while he looked down at the back of her head, but he could deal with that – like two adults would speak about the weather. _Interesting indeed._

In a movement that showed off a surprising amount of dexterity and flexibility that instantly had Laxus' mind reeling with the dirt sexy possibilities, Lucy swivelled in his lap to straddle and face him. _Hotdamn_ was this woman making him throb in his too small pants already and she hadn't done anything to him directly.

Lucy snapped her fingers in front of his face with a worried expression – either for his sanity or she could feel just how rigid he was almost directly below her lady bits he wasn't entirely sure, probably both – and the Thunder God remembered that she had asked him a question.

"Uhhhh..." Well didn't he just sound so intelligent? After all those days that he had prepped himself into speaking to her about all this crap that came with his magic and it was finally happening and his upstairs brain had officially checked out.

And not for sexy fun times. Oh no. Because this entire situation was ludicrous and he didn't know what to even say.

Wait.

Why wasn't she asking any questions?

How did Lucy know the connotations that came with a mate? To his knowledge, only he, Gajeel, the short-stack Bookworm, and apparently _Natsu_ knew about all this.

And probably Wendy, but he didn't really want to think about that at the moment, who knew what kind of freaky shit female Dragons had to go through when they found their destined pair. Probably something to do with blood sacrifices or lots of weird rituals…

He peered down into Lucy's big amber eyes – damn could he just get lost in those things for a million years, but not now because it was focusing time – and regarded her sceptically. "How do _you_ know about mates? Hell…I'm a damn Slayer and I didn't even know until the Pincushion over there told me like three and a half months ago."

Lucy snorted inelegantly and rolled her eyes. "I have Natsu as a best friend. As soon as I had found him all wrapped up in every single one of my blankets like a weird little fiery burrito in a corner of my house almost six years ago, I researched their species as soon as possible. I was a bit put out when he sneezed and lit all eleven of those blankets on fire, but at least I knew that they only _hibernated_ around people they trusted. And it only lasted for like two weeks around the longest nights and shortest days of winter, and then I had to feed him crazy amounts of fire after to perk him back up. I thought he was sick, thank the Gods he wasn't."

Huh…Dragon's hibernated. No wonder he felt so lethargic and sleepy around Christmas. It made sense…Dragons were essentially giant talking lizards.

"I know all about mates and shit. Also some weird scenting thing and why they all growl a lot. Apparently, it used to be a language and the Dragon inside you is trying to speak it, but because you're all not quite Dragon enough you can't understand it. Weird right?"

He nodded absentmindedly, his hands – against his will! – had gravitated towards those amazing hips of hers and stroked a soothing pattern of mindless shapes against her soft skin, while her arms snaked their way around his torso so that her glorious breasts were mashed up against his hard chest.

Damn, wasn't that just the best feeling ever? Now…how to get her to do it without clothing on…

The guild was holding their breath, the sexual tension was incredibly obvious between the two blondes who sat gazing at each other on one stool. How in the hell had no one noticed before?

"So…I'll ask you again. Laxus…am I your mate? Is what Natsu said true?"

"…yes."

Lucy reached up as soon as that single syllable left his lips and brought his face down for a truly spine-tingling crazy electrifying (pun intended) kiss that rocked him to his core.

He could hardly believe it.

Lucy was in his lap. Kissing him.

On the mouth.

Was he dreaming? Hallucinating? Hopped up on some weird mushroom that he thought Bickslow might have slipped into his dinner hours earlier?

The feel of her waist in his hands and the sound of her tiny groan when he parted her lips with his tongue begged to differ. The feeling of her wrapped around him so tightly held him down to the earth, while her incredible heat between her legs – which he could feel through his annoyingly tight pants – sent him to the fucking moon.

She was here, with him. She was real. This was real.

A dry awkward cough sounded from somewhere behind them and the blondes broke away from each other, panting practically vibrating in their need for the other.

Yes…this was real. But it was also happening in front of their really curious family who had absolutely no shame in watching them dry hump each other in the middle of the beer hall.

He scowled at all the lewd looks on his guild mate's faces but decided it was for the best that they had interrupted him in the middle of what he could only assume would be the start of that army of lightning babies he had so desperately wanted. He didn't want anyone else to see his mate in the middle of her passion, only him. But he was dangerously close to throwing her down on a table and fucking her so raw that she wouldn't be able to walk around properly for days.

Lucy looked up at him with those eyes that he loved, filled with a sparkle of something that set his stomach on fire and had him raring to absolutely ravish her.

He grinned rakishly down at her, happy to see her blush and fidget at his look. "It's time to go Blondie. Hang on tight."

She latched himself to his chest like a little Celestial barnacle, her giggle making him smile in response. With a last look to his still gaping family – and a one fingered salute from the drunk complete with exaggerated wink – he called fragments of his magic from the lacrima behind his eye and fizzled out into atoms with a resounding boom and flash of lightning.

Hewasn't called the Thunder God for nothing.

* * *

 **There is one last chapter and it's mainly SMUT! YAY! Put on those ponchos and hats people, cause it's gonna get a little wet in here~ :3**


	6. The Spark

All Rights to Hiro Mashima

As promised. The smut, the whole smut and nothing but the smut. (Also some talking and such cause come on…Laxus seems like a bit of a chatty Cathy when he gets going…yah know?)

I'd like to give a little shout out to **kurahieiritr JIO** and dedicate this chapter to you. There has been some stalking and cyber bullying going on that pertains to Lalu fics specifically. I would like to thank you all that have read this story for being super-duper amazing reviews and follows and send your love for **kura's** Lalu stories that have been getting a little heat. :3

Just a reminder, this chapter is rated **M** but the lemony bits will be denoted by those pesky purity marks **(XXX)** just like my other fics. So, read responsibly my precious cupcakes, and enjoy.

BEWARE! SEX! PROBABLY TOO MUCH TALKING AND NOT ENOUGH SEX! DID I MENTION SEX!?

* * *

 **~ Lightbulb ~**

 **Chapter 6: The Spark**

 _In which Laxus and Lucy have a quick chit-chat then get down to the good stuff._

* * *

"Holy…shit. What the fuck was that Sparky?"

Laxus grinned down at the little blonde that he held captive in his crushing embrace. "My magic Blondie." They had materialised in his front yard after leaving the guild hall in the most ostentatious way possible.

"The fizzy-tingly thing?"

"You're body disassembling into individual atoms…moving at the speed of light…"

"Fuck. That's…"

"Terrifying? Crazy? Insane?"

"Super fucking awesome. Was I _inside_ you at one point?"

Well…that wasn't a question he had ever been asked before, but there was always a first for everything, especially where Lucy was concerned. "Probably. When we touched back down, the atoms had to rearrange themselves into our bodies and minds again, they scrambled around for a moment before settling."

"Shit. That's incredible, also weird. Thought it would be the other way around honestly…not that I didn't like the feeling of being the one inside someone else for a change."

He snorted. This woman, damn was she fucking amazing. Witty and just crazy enough to keep him on his toes and doubt all the preconceived notions about women. Lucy was anything but typical. Where most woman he had slept with concerned themselves with jewels and gems and their nails and hair, Lucy surpassed all that and added another layer. Her superficial self-was nonexistent. Her beauty shone from deep down, her heart of pure fucking gold and sunlight and her shining soul. However, at this moment…looked a little pale.

Laxus eyed the woman that was still wrapped around him like a damn spider monkey. "You alright?"

Lucy gave a nervous laugh. "Uhm. Yeah. But I can't really feel my feet."

He laughed at that, she sounded so timid, as if he would reprimand her for something that was out of her control. "That's normal for first timers. Should have seen Freed the first time I took him anywhere, he was paler than midnight with all his makeup on. You wouldn't know this…but that guy can projectile with the best of them."

"Gross." After a moment where Lucy tested her tingly limbs to see if they could hold her weight, she had glanced around and gasped. "Laxus, where the hell are we?"

"On the outskirts of the East Forest." He swept his arms out. "Welcome to my home babe."

There, between two tall pine trees and beside a quaint babbling brook, sat the strangest sight Lucy had seen that year, and that was including that one time where Erza tried chocolate cake. Laxus' house was a weird amalgamation of old and new, made completely of beautifully aged wood and gleaming metal.

"This was once my Grandfather's, but he gifted it to me when I was eighteen and he decided to move closer to the guild hall…something about keeping an eye out for stray fires…it was all wood then and had a single bedroom and one bathroom."

He clasped her tiny perfect hand in his and guided his mate towards the door. "I updated everything when I came back from my…banishment. I contract Metal Mouth to create the iron that would withstand a damn hurricane and Laki helped with the rotting wood and expansions."

He opened the door ushering her in and shucked off his heavy coat, hanging it on its designated hook. Laxus let Lucy explore the living room, watching her exclaim joyfully over his kitchen and ogle his spacious deck. His Dragon preened and rumbled happily in his mind at all her praise over his nest. He liked that she thought it was a nice place to stay, hopefully, one day he could convince her to stay here permanently. _I'll need to start on more bedrooms for sure. The nursery needs to go somewhere…_ Those legions of lightning spirit babies would need a place to sleep. But there was time to discuss that sometime later.

"Oi. Blondie. Thirsty?"

Her eyes glimmered with something playful. "Surprise me Thunder Thighs."

He quirked his eyebrow but said nothing as he poked around his special collection, noting that some of his Bourbon looked a little low, probably Freed and his perchance for expensive booze.

Spiced wine? Not tonight…better in the winter.

Screwdriver? No orange juice. Bickslow must have been by, that interloper guzzled the shit like it was going out of style.

He smirked as he remembered that his little Blondie liked unique things. Sambuca it was then, and a honey ale for him.

She accepted her drink with a smile. "What is it?"

"Black hole."

Her eyes lit up. "Hmmm…Exotic." He watched her throat as she swallowed, the motion smooth and strangely erotic in a way he still couldn't understand. Probably something to do with the image of her sucking him dry and drinking everything he could give that sinful little mouth of hers, but he wasn't going to get into that because the room was already feeling a little warm from her just sitting so close to him.

Also, the problem in his pants hadn't gone away yet, so there was also that pesky aspect. If he delved too deep into his daydreams now, he was liable to blow his load prematurely. And that wasn't who he was. He was Laxus fucking Dreyar. Lightning Dragon Slayer, master of the penis-arts and holder of incredible stamina.

But as Lucy licked a stray drop of that dark drink off the rim of her glass, her small pink tongue peeking out…Mister I-can-go-for-days-just-watch-me knew he was in a whole heap of trouble. She was shredding his control by doing nothing at all that was even remotely sensual.

He could only think about what would happen if she actually decided to come onto him on purpose.

Laxus was fucking screwed.

"So. Laxus. Explain this all, please. I didn't read much on mates and what actually happened between them. I was really looking for strange patterns of drowsiness and stumbled upon the information by accident while trying to figure out why my best friend was curled up in a ball and sleeping for seven days straight without eating."

So he told her. How he couldn't get her out of his mind, how everything in him – after they had started to work in close quarters and had become friends – had shouted and growled at him to be by her side…always. How he wanted to rip out Drew's spine and beat him with it. How he was utterly loyal to his mate, his Queen. How it all had blindsided him completely with the lack of having a Dragon parent. Why he had gone on that quest for that key and found Aquarius accidentally.

"You were trying to find me a gift?"

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you just buy me some flowers or something like all the other guys did?"

"Cause that shit isn't personal, and I know you Blondie. You don't give two shits about flowers, not when you have a chance to create a new contract with a Spirit. You live and die for your friends and family, same as everyone else at the guild."

"How do you know that?"

"I listened to everything you ever said, remembered everything about you. That's how my mind works now…well…has worked for almost two years at least. Anything to do with you is important, and I have never seen you as happy as when you were speaking about your Spirits. I didn't notice it before, but your smiles didn't quite have the same shine as they did before Tartaros. But I'm glad that Aquarius could come back to you Lucy. I really am."

She smiled easily back at him. "Thank you Laxus. For everything. I mean it, for bringing back a piece of my family, of my soul. For being right there when I needed to vent and rage over insignificant shit. For looking at me like I was a capable mage that didn't need saving. For giving me support but not overstepping if I didn't need it. For challenging me to do more, for being that asshole that didn't pull your punches because I am a woman, for showing me that I can be more than I think."

He had never been thanked for being his usually taciturn dick-headed self before, so he rolled with it. "Tch. Whatever Blondie. I'm the Master of Fairy Tail and one of the four Gods of Ishgar, so believe me. I know what I'm talking about. You are my successor as Master. I believe that you are what's best for everyone should the unthinkable happen to me. You've never been weak Lucy, just…misguided…shadowed. But you came into your own and not an add-on to "Team Destruction." No longer the cheerleader waiting on the sidelines, but the Star Bringer."

He drained the last of his drink as Lucy sat silently across from him, eyes glued to him with an unreadable expression on her face.

"You are Lucy of fucking Fairy Tail. Light of all our lives and a damn joy to be around every single day. You're not weak, you're the strongest of us all. You're your own damn knight in shining armour babe, you save yourself now and all of us in the process, and fuck if I don't love you even more because of that."

Within the next second, he was tackled backwards on his couch – thank the Gods he had put down his glass beforehand – as Lucy launched herself at him, slamming her sweet little mouth over his in a dizzying kiss that left him extremely breathless and slightly confused.

"Did you mean all that? Everything that you just said…was it the truth?"

"Shit. Yes. I don't fucking lie Blondie…especially to you."

Her eyes glimmered with wicked promises. "Good." She proceeded to take what little breath he had away from him as her tongue dove into his mouth. His hands clamped onto her perfect hips and pushed her down onto his steadily growing arousal. He had been hard for what felt like months and he wanted her to know that it was all because of her, he was stiff and throbbing just for her. Only her. She was the only one that could get a reaction out of him anymore and damn it if that didn't make him even harder.

He was hers. Completely and totally hers.

She ripped her mouth off of his and trailed a blazing path of hot, wet kisses down to his Adam's apple, lightly sucking on it, pulling a groan from deep in his chest. "Bed…Laxus. Now."

He had never moved so fast in her entire fucking life.

 **XXX**

She clung to his front, lithe little fingers sifting through his spiky tousled hair while his hands supported her underneath her perfectly round ass. He had longed for months – years if he was being truly honest with himself – to grab and fondle and not give a damn about how rough he was being because she could take it. She was strong and resilient, and if her smell was anything to go by (getting darker and deeper by the second) she apparently loved it when he man-handled her.

He had never loved her tiny skirts more than in that moment, his hands meeting soft pliable flesh instantly. Laxus groaned at the contact, her mouth nipping and sucking and _ohgodsyes_ biting along his exposed collar bone and neck and jaw.

Heat pooled at the base of his spine when she bit down on the junction of his neck and shoulder, and his Dragon went postal with the feeling of being claimed and dominated, even just that little bit. She wanted him just as much as he ached for her.

"Dammit…Lucy…Cut that shit out unless you want me to throw you on the floor and fuck you raw. I'll fucking do it. Don't test me…"

He could feel her damn cocky smirk against the skin of his chest before she placed a single light kiss – nothing more than a brush of her lips – against his earlobe and he stumbled in the slow steady pace he had been taking towards his stairs.

Cursing the fact that he had built his bedroom on the second fucking floor of his house, cause damn he didn't think he could make it up that far right now, he spun around and pinned her roughly to the wall to his right.

Her tiny, cute little gasp of surprise had him even harder – apparently, that was entirely possible even though he thought it wasn't – and he pinned her arms above her head with one of his massive hands. His hips pressed closer towards her until he could feel the heat spilling out of her core, through both his pants and boxers, directly on his length that was way too fucking hard for her.

Laxus needed something, anything to even temporarily satiate the lust and need that was rolling around his veins and making his stomach flip excitedly. So his hips rocked forward and they both groaned at the feeling of hard against soft. "Fuck. I've needed you for months Blondie. Even you're damn smell gets me going. You don't know how exhausting it is not jumping you all the time…"

"L-laxus…" She struggled against the hand that held her arms at bay – her fingers were much too devious and he just couldn't handle that shit right now – and her hips rocked against his again. Then once more, as her arousal drifted up and hit him full in the face like one of her roundhouse kicks.

He dove down to get a small taste – their hips grinding and jumping against the other the whole while – and laved his tongue up her neck to nibble at her ear, before biting down harder on her collar bone while simultaneously using his other hand to roughly palm her breast.

A breathy moan spilt out of her mouth at the feeling of painful pleasure at the bite. Lucy didn't really understand why it felt as good as it did, but she didn't question it. Laxus was a beast, after all, and she wanted this man in every way possible.

As a heady mixture of her blood and the taste of Lucy's skin burst across his taste buds, his Dragon finally succeeded in breaking out of its mental prison he had locked it up in for years.

He had finally lost his cool calculating façade, his control had slipped and all that was on his mind was Lucy.

Please Lucy, control Lucy, fuck her, take her, protect, love, _doanythingfor_ Lucy.

Just her, only her. She was what he needed and wanted and loved, and he would be the greedy ass Dragon he knew he was and take everything that she could give him and in turn, give her everything that he was. All the parts that no one had ever seen, everything hidden away in his heart of hearts.

Laxus growled and dug his sharp teeth (when had they gotten that incredibly pointy? He couldn't remember…) deeper into her shoulder as his magic buzzed and swirled around them both. By this time, his hands had released hers and half way through ripping off all of her clothes, her own fumbling with the buttons on his shirt until she got fed up and just enjoyed the feeling of the Thunder God's lightning sparking and arcing over her over-sensitized nipples (how long had her bra been off? She couldn't remember).

Liquid heat swirled in her abdomen as he shredded her panties into strips and dragged two fingers through her soaking folds. He hitched her higher against the wall to where she could feel his straining length against her inner thigh as he still rocked and humped against her.

As she opened her mouth to question him, or moan, or make any sort of sound at all, Laxus pressed his thumb to her clit and rubbed in rough tight circles, sending his magic spiking though her bundle of nerves and she screamed as ecstasy and euphoria blind-sided her. She had never had an orgasm shatter her sight into sparks, but here she was, coming down from the ultimate high in the arms of a massive blonde who was grinning cockily at her while _purring_.

Laxus detached his mouth from her shoulder his chest rumbling with a weird sound he had never made before, slowly licking up the mess of blood and she moaned only half-aware of what he was doing. "Shit. Laxus…that…that was…"

While he was overjoyed that she responded easily to his magic and he had reduced her so fast into a hot blissfully satiated mess, he still needed more.

And from the dark look she was giving him, she felt the exact same way.

He was done teasing, done with the appetiser.

Now he wanted the main course of his meal and knew exactly what he needed. Lucy was his devour and he was happy to savour every.

Single.

Bite.

He brought his soaked fingers up to her bruised lips and growled a little as she turned those devious eyes on him in a silent question. "Suck baby."

She opened her mouth and let her little pink tongue swipe over the tip of his finger before pulling it between her lips and fucking _moaning_ while she sucked her own arousal off him. Her eyes closed in bliss as his breath stuttered and broke. "Shit. Holy fuck you are so sexy."

He ripped his fingers from her as his length throbbed again – reminding him about his still aching problem downstairs – and smashed his lips over her. The taste of her was… _wild_. Her own arousal, the taste that was entirely her, mixed with the blood left on his own lips pushed him over another edge he didn't even know that he had.

Pulling Lucy off the wall, he half-ran half-tripped up the stairs and made it into his room, almost crazy with lust and need and shit she was still fucking grinding on his cock which made _nodamnsense_ at this angle.

She wiggled in his arms and he let her down onto her own feet, interested in just what she was going to do with that devious little smirk and those sex-eyes of hers.

Laxus could feel her fingers tugging once more at his shirt and he pulled that off, the bottom buttons popping off and landing somewhere on the floor, entirely forgotten until he would find them weeks later. The belt flew through the loops, button and zipper of his pants manhandled, until finally (FUCKING FINALLY) his arousal was released, still needy and dripping, but no longer tightly confined. She pulled his pants off his legs slowly – the little fucking tease – and followed them down until she was kneeling in front of him appraising his cock with a wide-eyed look that made his ego grow just that tiny bit more.

"What…I don't think it will fit Laxus… _ohGods_...you're fucking huge…" Yeah, they were going to have to butter the doors to get his inflated head through after that comment.

He grabbed his own arousal in one hand and tangled the other in her silky blonde hair. His grin was wolfish as Laxus' sharp teeth gleamed in the low light of the single lamp. He brought himself up to her slightly parted lips and felt her warm breath puff out over his tip, a shudder running down the length of his spine. He stroked his length twice, and felt himself twitch, but stopped before going too far. He wanted her to finish him, if at all possible.

"…suck." That single word was growled so low that she might have missed it Lucy hadn't been so hyper-aware of him and everything he did.

She drew him in, taking as much as she could right away. Laxus choked on the moan that barreled out of his chest, his grip on her hair tightening reflexively. "Yes. Fuck yes Lucy, you look so fucking good sucking me off like this…"

The scent of her own arousal grew deeper, more intense and he growled in response. So his mate liked dirty talk, did she? He could get behind that, especially because there were so many things he wanted to say in the heat of the moment.

Her lips wrapped around his tip while one of her hands palmed his balls, the other sneaking up to stroke him in quick little jerks. His hips surged forward without his permission, trying to get her to swirl her devilish tongue around him more, trying to feel more of her heat, make her whimper as her own need and lust ramped up.

"You love sucking my cock don't you Princess?"

She nodded as he pushed himself a little down her throat, that tight passage squeezing him while her eyes watered in a natural response. She looked so messy, so strangely innocent like this that he couldn't help himself anymore and he surged forward once again into her mouth, he wanted to defile her in all the best ways.

Her fingers gripped him harder on his thighs and her nails bit into his skin.

As he thought she was going to pull away, he was thoroughly surprised as she surged forward inside, taking more of him than he thought possible. "Shit baby. Just like that…"

She bobbed up and down, her own spit dripping down her chin onto her bare breasts. He moaned, closing one eye in an attempt reign in his need to cum in her mouth, but it was a losing battle and he knew it was only a matter of time before he blew.

"I'm gonna come, Princess, fuck…you're pretty little mouth is too much for me. So fucking sweet…" She looked feral and so incredibly turned on it sped his release that much more.

With only a single wink up at him and not a single word, she squeezed his balls slightly – a little pain mixing with the pleasure of her mouth – and stroked him with her other hand. She pulled off of him and he almost, _almost_ whined petulantly at the loss of her heat. Until he watched as she opened her mouth, _inviting_ him to cum.

He groaned low, his release barreling up his spine as both of his hands tangled in her hair and he came harder than any other time in his life. Three thick ropes of his seed splashed across her face, in her mouth and down her chest. The image of her panting, flushed with her own arousal and painted with his release burned into his mind as one of the sexiest things he ever seen.

"Shit…" Laxus' breathing was heavy, as he took in her kneeling form with wide-eyed wonder. How had he ever earned her affection? How had he gotten so lucky? " _holyfuckingshitLucydamn…_ "

She grinned deviously, her amber eyes twinkling with something that made him twitch and throb – again, even though he had just fucking cum all over her tits – and she swiped some of his release off of her chin and lapped it off her fingers.

He gawked. Her smile grew wider.

"Where the fuck have you been all my life?" His heart pounded dangerously fast. She was it for him and he was entirely enamoured, forever ensnared in her trap. He was deeply and irrevocably in love with this little blonde spitfire of a woman named Lucy.

She giggled as he swooped down and plucked her off the floor, stealing his ripped shirt and roughly wiping the rest of his spunk off of her, and threw her down on his massive bed. She bounced once before propping herself up on her elbow and crooking a single finger at him.

The universal sign for 'come-hither-and-fuck-me-till-my-legs-fall-off' wasn't needed because Laxus was already there – slightly marvelling at his refractory period because _hotdamn_ was he already uncomfortably stiff – and crawling between her spread legs. He eyed her perfect pink cunt for a moment before dipping down to swipe his tongue up her slit, grinning when a moan barreled out of her.

She tasted just as good as she smelled, but he would devour that part of her at a later time. Right now he wanted to be inside her as soon as fucking possible. Every instinct and part of him screamed out for him to take her as rough and as fast as he needed.

But he wrapped up the stupid bastard Dragon in his mind with iron bars and adamantine chains for as long as possible, just until he got her full consent. This was something he couldn't ever take back, she was stuck with him until their dying day and she needed to know just what that meant.

"Lucy…babe. Look at me."

She did with confusion in her eyes melting her lust until it only simmered in the back of her mind. Her breath hitched as she saw that he was entirely serious. "Laxus?"

He reached forward and smoothed her brow that was drawn taught in apprehension. His voice was low and firm, not letting anything but sincerity and love leak out. "If I do this…if we have sex now…this is it Lucy. I won't ever have anyone else, not that I want anyone else. But…our lives will be linked completely until the end. Is this truly something that you want? Are you sure you really want me more than just tonight?"

He wasn't even embarrassed to admit that his voice quivered and broke like a pubescent teenager. He knew that if she stopped him now, he would let her go, but it would break him until he was a shell of his former self. She held his heart, something that he hadn't even realised he possessed, but it was up to her what happened next. He would never, ever force her, or anyone for that matter, but never her.

Relief stole over her face and she laughed breathlessly. "I know the implications Laxus. And I want you. It's a two-way street for mates you know…just as you need me, I am drawn to you as well." She pressed herself to him, her soft skin sliding against his hard muscles scrambling his brain for a moment before she placed a single lingering kiss against his parted lips.

"You're mine Thunder Thighs. You're the one I love, no one has ever come close to you in my eyes and that's the way it'll always be." She wrapped her mile-long legs around his waist, bringing his length down to brush against the apex of her sinfully delicious thighs. "So…take me."

All thoughts in his mind fizzled out as she confirmed for him the one thing he had been desperate to hear. Lucy loved him. She loved the stupid, pig-headed bastard of a man with a Dragon living inside him and who had once tried to kill her while she was a statue.

The Dragon surged forward and shattered his restraints, his mind turning absolutely feral. His eyes sharpened to slits, canines elongating, and muscles bulking up. His magic was pushing him into Dragon Force and he didn't have the will to stop it. Sparks and arcs of lightning ran over his body and flickered out into the room, shorting out all his electronics and causing the light bulbs to explode.

There was only a single word that rattled around his mostly empty brain.

 _Claim._

And so he did.

He sheathed himself inside her tight wet heat in a single thrust and roared with the pleasure that kicked the shit out of all of his senses.

Lucy was damn perfect for him, everything about her was damn amazing.

"Fuck! Sparky…move! Please…"

Her plea brought him back to the present and he pulled out until only his tip inside her then rocked forward using gravity to give him that little bit of extra force, ripping a scream out of Lucy's throat. He could feel her tighten and grip around his length and he grinned. Laxus slammed himself over and over into her, his mind filled with thoughts of pleasing her and giving her everything she ever wanted.

"Faster Laxus… _ohfuck!_ Yeeeessssss…just like that."

Her fingernails raked down his back and he clamped his teeth around her right nipple in retaliation. She threw her head back and moaned and panted and screamed for more.

Laxus was gone and in his place was the beast he truly was. The animal in him wanted to see her dominated, and he sneered down at her and flipped her over, pushing her head into the pillows. He spread her quivering cheeks wide, ducking down once again to drag his tongue over her slit and dove into her heat, letting her taste explode in his mouth. He just couldn't resist her.

Pulling his mouth off of her – which he was loathed to do in this position because she was just so pretty all bent over like this – Laxus speared into her without warning and her second orgasm shot through her, tightening her pussy around his length until he was being all but strangled.

He moaned and dropped over her, his chest covering her. He placed kisses and bites down her back until her smooth skin was mottled with small bruises and red patches, becoming the most perfect piece of art he had ever seen.

Lucy rocked into him slowly and he picked up a punishing pace and he knew this was the last time for him. Whenever her next inevitable orgasm would come, he would go with her.

His fingers were on her hips before she knew what was happening. Laxus was everywhere, inside her, around her, his scent and feel of his muscles and his damn arousing continuous growls. She was a melting, hot, panting, mess but she wanted more. She would always want more of this man…this Dragon that was her mate.

He pulled her up until her back was flush with his front, his thrusts growing even more insistent as the angle changed and he hit that special little spot that had her swearing and cursing and praising his goddamn name.

One of his arms banded around her torso right under her bouncing breasts and the other slid down to her way-to-sensitive bundle of nerves to shoot his magic through it again. Her legs trembled as the string inside her that connected all her extremities tightened and curled.

"Come on baby. Give me one more…please Princess, just one more."

She was panting and almost delirious from pleasure and his new pet name for her made her want to please this man behind her. But she was so sensitive that it almost hurt.

"…I can't…too much…" She was writhing against him, her hips shifting to take more of him even though it was too much and not enough at the same time.

"Yes you can…I'm a greedy bastard babe…" His hips were stuttering and his rhythm was off as she tightened around him, but damn it he wanted her to come just one more time if it was the last thing he did. "…one more. You're such a good girl. Gods I love you."

It wasn't the dirty talk, or the feeling of his arousal sliding against her walls, or even his lightning teasing her nipples, but that admission that he did love her that set Lucy off on her attempt to reach the stars. Her release slammed into her and she clamped down on Laxus and sucking him into her one last time before he roared and bit her shoulder, breaking the skin and letting her blood flow down her bare skin. His own orgasm was secondary in his mind, while the need to mix his magic with hers took the foreground.

Instinctively he pushed a little of his lightning into the wound which cauterised the bite mark instantly. Complete and total rapture stole over his entire being and another, much smaller orgasm ripped through Lucy's body making her shake and her vision flash white. She moaned and slumped forward, letting the blackness envelope her until she was floating on a sea of bliss.

 **XXX**

They were linked, irrevocably chained together for the rest of their lives and both Laxus and Lucy wouldn't have it any other way.

When Lucy came back to her senses completely, she was lying on a hard muscled chest with a face breathing in her scent against the crook of her neck while one large hand sifted through the tangles of her hair.

She was sticky and sore all over, sweaty and dirty but so entirely sated that she didn't even give a damn about anything else.

"Back with us Blondie?"

"Shut it Sparky. How long was I out?"

Laxus chuckled brushing his nose over the deep purple bruise that sat on her shoulder having already cleaned the blood off of her back and chest. "Only an hour."

Lucy flailed and squawked in his arms. "Only an hour? Why didn't you wake me up?"

He shrugged. "You needed the rest babe. And I didn't mind just holding you like this. It's nice…soothing."

That comment kept Lucy still for another full minute happy she could give Laxus a modicum of peace even if she was passed out. She groaned and stretched. "I need a bath. Or a shower. Or something."

Laxus winced as she tried to peel her breasts off his chest where they were mashed up against him, her skin sticking to his. "No shit Blondie."

She smacked his chest half-heartedly and giggled, slumping down tiredly against him again. "Not my fault. You're the one who came all over my chest."

He heaved himself off the bed, keeping his little Queen in his arms. She was half boneless anyways and he was way proud that he had fucked her so well that her legs didn't seem to be working correctly. "I have absolutely no regrets about that babe. Not when it was the hottest thing that I've even seen."

Lucy leaned up against his chest and he purred at the way she trusted him not to drop her. The yawn that pulled at her lips made him smile softly in a way that he didn't know he could smile. "Love you Laxus. Even if you are a stupid lizard."

He laughed genuinely at her pout. "Love you too Lucy." He kicked the bathroom door closed behind him, entirely ready to soak in his oversized tub with the jets on high for at least a full hour with his mate in his lap. And if they got to round two when her muscles had loosened up a bit, who was he to deny it?

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

The guild Fairy Tail was bustling that morning, just like it did every other day. Only this was slightly subdued as a kind of tension crackled through the members who stole looks at the large front doors as if something interesting could walk through them at any moment.

The blonde pair that had left the beer hall in a flash of lightning and boom of thunder hadn't been seen for nearly seventy-two hours. Three full days of waiting for news, any news was excruciating. Cana was on pins and needles about just who had won the bets they had been placing after Lucy and Laxus had left. Mira wanted to know just how the hell she had overlooked that pairing, while Erza and Gray were fuming in a corner miffed at the fact that they didn't actually know where Laxus had taken their innocent little Celestial Mage. Lucy was their baby sister and when they had set out to find her and drag Laxus away from her by his testicles if need be, they had been stopped by _Natsu_ of all people.

That particular Slayer had both refused to help them in their search and told them that Lucy was in the safest place possible at the moment, but she would be back to the guild around three days from then.

Right as Erza decided that she was done waiting around for Lucy to show up, the doors slammed open to show the pair in question.

While Laxus looked bored and resigned as if the upcoming confrontation was making him incredibly tired already, Lucy had the most deviously smug smirk plastered across her lips.

Cana took one look at the pair – taking in the massive hickey on Lucy's neck and the way the two stood so close together – and lifted her beer stein up in a salute to the new couple. "WOOHOOOOO! Go Lucy! Get some girl!"

To her credit, Lucy didn't blush as everyone's attention flitted between her neck – where her mating mark sat like a proud badge of honour – and the massive arm that possessively wrapped around her trim waist. Instead, she smiled and winked at the guild's resident drunk.

Everyone roared their approval as Lucy tangled her fingers with Laxus' while some gawked at the smile that the hulking blonde shot her.

Lucy clambered up on top of one of the benches and clapped her hands together to get everyone's attention. "Alright, listen up! Laxus is mine and yes we are together and will be for the foreseeable future…that is all." She stepped down and wrapped her arms around the Lightning Dragon Slayer happy that she finally had someone who she could trust with her whole heart.

Laxus smirked at her public claim of him and placed a single kiss on her blonde head while she hummed in pleasure. "I'm gunna go see my team. See you later Blondie. Oh…and don't die."

She looked at him quizzically until she noticed the mass of girls that waited for her to untangle herself from her mate. "Don't leave me. They'll eat me alive."

He chuckled and whispered in her ear. "Be good Blondie and I might eat you later. I know how much you like that."

She flushed with arousal and blinked languidly. Laxus stepped away from her, but not before he heard her mutter "traitor" as she was dragged away by an irate Mira.

He watched her procession as it was halted by her best friend who congratulated her on her new mate by slapping her on the back. She retaliated by shooting the pink-haired Slayer up with enough volts of his lightning for his hair to stand completely on end. The first time she had shown him the fact that she could control his magic was two days earlier and it had shocked him (pun not intended) to no end.

Now…it just made him chuckle, more than glad that she had a few more tricks up her sleeve if she ever needed it.

He slumped heavily on the bench beside a smugly smiling Freed who was gesturing to Ever and Bix in the universal "pay-up" way. He wondered what the bet was for a moment, before he realised he didn't really want to ask about that shit.

He motioned for Kinana to bring him a pint while he rolled his eyes at his team who had already started to bicker and whine. Nothing would ever change it seemed.

After a while it was quiet as they all sat in comfortable silence just enjoying the hum of the chatty guild around them. He could hear his little mate's voice above all the rest when she started to talk about something that had to do with his "magic fingers."

"So…what's it like Laxus? Being mates with someone."

He thought about the question that came from an uncharacteristically somber Bickslow, so he tried to answer as truthfully as possible. "…I don't know really. It just feels right. I love her and she loves me. There isn't anything else that I really need. That's it, just her."

Bickslow's eyes drifted towards the bar counter where a certain brunette was guzzling her customary pre-lunch barrel. "Sounds…nice."

Laxus glanced down at Bickslow and then back towards Cana and resigned himself to ask about that shit sometime in the future and he grunted his affirmative.

He chatted with his team – who he was entirely thankful for as they didn't ask him about the experience with Lucy and respected his decision not to divulge those secrets – until he heard Lucy's voice squeal at an octave much higher than usual.

He was out of his seat and half way towards her ready to absolutely murder anyone who had scared her so much she made that strange uncharacteristic sound, before he realised she was clasping hands and jumping up and down with Gajeel's shorty. She was excited and not under attack.

Lucy pushed Levy's sweater to the side to see a matching mark on her friend's neck. "When did you mate with him?"

Levy smiled wide and glanced at her Dragon who was sitting smug as can be in the darkest corner of the guild. "Two weeks ago. I wanted to thank Laxus though. He gave the big lug the push he needed to tell me. I kinda already knew, but…it was still nice for it to be confirmed."

"What do you mean Laxus helped?"

The man in question could feel something like apprehension creep up his neck. Something in the back of his mind tingled and he knew it was going to be bad.

"Oh, he and Gaj made a bet. They had to tell their mates within two months and the one who did it last would have to pose nude for Sorcerer Weekly and do an interview with Jason."

"Did he now?" Lucy's piercing gaze caught his and he stood in the middle of the silent guild hall wide-eyed like an Exceed caught in the headlights of a magic mobile.

"Shit." He was fucked.

Gajeel's signature laugh filtered up through the oppressive quiet. "Too late Spark Plug."

Lucy sauntered over to her mate, her hips moving in that way that she knew got him all hot and bothered. She was a stupid fucking tease and he loved it to no end.

Erza and Gray were still stunned in the corner from Lucy's earlier display. Where had happened to their baby sister? She was so…sexy now. Mated to a Slayer and one of the strongest of the guild, when had they stopped watching over her like over-protective parents? What happened to the good old days where they knew that Lucy was so innocent and cute and just kicked the shit out of every guy that eyed her up like a meal the way Laxus was doing right now. Gray wanted brain bleach to get that image out of his mind while Erza was determined to catch up with her favourite blonde sometime in the future. Obviously they had things to chat about.

"Laxus…what's this I hear about a nude spread in a magazine?" Her tone was calm but her eyes were blazing, just daring him to lie or try to squirm away from the question.

He growled and huffed petulantly. "Just a little bet I made with the Lightning Rod. I didn't think he'd win cause I know he's a giant pussy. But I gotta do it babe, I'm no coward and I don't back down from a bet."

She hummed as she wrapped her arms around his middle, prompting him to drop a kiss onto those lips that he loved so much. "I understand…but if you're gunna be all naked and sexy for all the ladies to see, I have one condition."

"Anything for you. You know that."

Her grin turned devious, in a way he knew would bring him immeasurable pain or pleasure. Sometimes both. Oh yes, he was absolutely fucked, but he didn't care. He loved it, loved her and he was hers through and through.

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

Two weeks later, the exclusive edition of Sorcerers Weekly came out that centered on a massive spread debuting Laxus Dreyer, Master of Fairy Tail, and one of the Four Gods of Ishgar. There were twenty four pictures of him, all in colour and he was completely nude in all of them. While not completely giving away the goods, the peeks of him were more than enough to send the magic world into complete chaos and melted women everywhere into massive piles of mush.

There were two things that kept the hordes of ravenous woman off his door step. One, was where he said in his exclusive interview that he was mated – essentially something that was much deeper and longer lasting than marriage – to one Lucy of Fairy Tail.

The second, for those who didn't already know who Lucy was, was the picture on the cover of the magazine that was voted one of the best that Jason had ever taken in his career. His massive back covered in his rippling muscles, head turned to the side so that his scar was seen, and magic sparking around and making him look like a complete badass covered the entire page.

What cinched it for most people was the curling script that flowed over one of his shoulder blades.

It read, "Property of the Star Bringer." When asked about it in the interview, Laxus was said to have smirked and replied that he was hers, forever.

And six months later, in a follow up with everyone's favourite guild, Lucy was asked about the tattoo that she had insisted upon. She smiled sweetly and turned around showing off her own ink in the same place that read "Property of the Thunder God."

 **That's it! This fic is officially done which I am over the moon about because I think that ending stories is much harder than starting them and I'm super fucking proud (AND MODEST OH YES). But…if you ask super nicely I might throw in a bonus chapter for a look in the future at our crazy blonde couple. :3**

 **IF ANYONE GIVES TWO CRAPS: I WILL BE CONTRIBUTING TO COLU WEEK IN AUGUST (hosted by Dragonshost) AND I AM SUPER EXCITED. So stay tuned for that.**

 **I can't believe there are so many lovers of Lalu out there that are dying for some good ole fashioned LucyXLaxus, that shit floored me with all the follows and favourites in the first 24 hours. You guys make me so happy. THANK YOU FOR ALL THE LOVE!**

 **Stay crazy,**

 **~LoadedEel**


	7. The Start

All Rights to Hiro Mashima

 **Back by popular demand, I give you the last instalment of Lightbulb. Thank you to everyone that had followed and favourited and gave me so LaLu love over this fic. :3**

BEWARE THE LIGHTNING SPIRIT BABIES!

* * *

 **~ Lightbulb ~**

 **Epilogue: The Start**

 _In which life goes on but everything eventually works out. More or less._

* * *

"Alright, listen up."

Laxus awoke to the sounds of his mate speaking quietly in the bathroom. It was sometime in the middle of the night, he could still see some of the stars that Lucy loved so much from the open bedroom window.

He took a cautionary sniff to figure out who exactly was in his house at – he rolled to pick up the glowing lacrima on his bedside table – four eighteen in the morning, but couldn't find any unusual scents that meant they had an intruder or a guest. Or Gods forbid her team had shown up out of the blue like they were prone to do every other day. The Thunder Legion only materialized every _three_ days, but it was consistent enough that when he walked into the kitchen in the mornings and witnessed Freed – complete with a frilly purple apron that Lucy liked to wear with nothing underneath when she was feeling particularly mischievous and wanted him to bend her over the counter and do her from behind – while making everyone breakfast, he didn't have a damn heart attack.

It was like everyone in his guild was physically trying their hardest to give him a damn coronary by the time he was thirty-five, and the worst offender just happened to be his little mate's _best fucking friend_.

Waking up to see a damn Demon hovering over you while you're naked and still have your cock shoved inside the perfect cunt of the woman you love was…terrifying.

One scare like that was enough for him, thank you very much. Laxus never knew that he could get that limp that fast while still inside Lucy, but there was a first for everything. He still had to shock Natsu more than once to get him out of his bed and away from his mate so that he could sleep. It would be concerning and he would be more territorial if Lucy wasn't already mated to him, or the fact that Natsu didn't seem to be attracted to anyone female. Apparently, Lucy was kin for every Slayer and he had woken up to Natsu spooning her on one side while Wendy snuggled in between her own chest and his more than once a week. Thank the Gods Cobra had some damn sense (also he everyone was mostly sure that Crime Sorciere was somewhere in Seven at the moment) and Gajeel was mated as well…and not stupid enough to climb into his bed (the guy was almost made entirely out of iron, it just was a bad idea all around.)

Apparently, Droy and Jet were still pining, but they also had enough sense to not _sleep_ beside Levy. Laxus liked to think that Gajeel was a bit less understanding than him, but the truth was Laxus had reserves and fucking _pools_ of self-restraint built up from over the time he couldn't just give Lucy one look and then suddenly he was deep between her sexy thighs in his office or the back storage room in the guild.

He had that shit in fucking spades and only zapped Natsu (and Gray, never Wendy though cause she was a damn treasure and adorable and _tried_ to get Erza but she a weird uncanny ability to re-quip into her Lightning Empress Armour even while asleep) when the little dumbasses were getting all comfy on Lucy's breasts – which was more often than one would think – to sleep on.

That was _his favourite spot dammit._

He got used to it after a while, but that didn't mean he didn't pound Natsu's face in a little when he had a chance. The joys of morning sex were null and void at that point seeing as they didn't exactly know when Natsu would pop up out of nowhere.

Freed was going to place runes around the outside of his house just as soon as he figured out how to keep the Demon END from running amok. Conventional rules seemed to bend to the bastard's will, and he was getting annoyed at the fact that he was more likely to wake up to the visage of the snoring Fire Dragon than he own mate.

"I'm only gonna say this once. Momma loves you, but I swear on everything that is Holy…if you don't let me sleep through the night without having to pee _twenty fucking times_ , my speech at your weddings will be full of embarrassing photos of you naked as children and then a detailed description of the night you came into existence. Let me tell you, I will remember it for the rest of my life cause your Papa gave it to me so hard I couldn't actually walk for three days." She gave a sharp laugh then a growl of pain. "Don't make me come in there! And stop _kicking each other!_ "

Laxus huffs a quiet laugh. He has no doubt that Lucy would go through with her threats. She was a Celestial Mage after all, and her word was something that everyone took seriously.

His poor children, not even out of the womb and their mother was already making threats. He loved her more for it though; it was just so… _Lucy_ for her to do something like that. He remembers that night vividly as well, it was on a rare occasion that they had the house to themselves, no team members lurking about and they hadn't had each other for what felt like months (in actuality it was only mere days, but who was really paying attention?) and there was just _something_ in the air, or the way she looked at him or how she smelled…that made him fucking snap.

It was the second time he had gone into Dragon Force while loving his woman and he had absolutely no control over it. Lucy had loved it, her keening as he bottomed out still rang out in his more racy dreams of her, and she had gouged his back to hell with her nails.

Laxus and his Dragon had both loved the fact that it was like a claim on him. He especially liked the choked exclamations that the men had given him when he had stripped in the bathhouse the next day. Some had asked how his Lucy was in bed, but he only gave them a wicked grin and turned to give them a glimpse of the clear bite mark on his naked hip and said 'vicious."

Locker room talk was something that the guys did and he didn't mind if some of them were fantasising about Lucy because they would never know the real thing. She came home to him _every single night_ and she was all his.

He strained to hear her whisper through the cracked open bathroom door. "Okay little sparks, let's make a deal. You give momma like…three hours of peaceful sleep, and when you get the fuck out of my body, I'll spoil you within an inch of your lives. How does that sound?"

The Thunder God smiled softly at the nickname. She had started to call them that right after they had found out she was pregnant, seven months and eight days ago because they seemed to make her more electrically charged than normal. He had noticed something off in her smell, it was a little more like ozone than her normal vanilla and the mix was wrong, so he had sneakily sent Wendy to check her out, just to make sure she wasn't sick with something. He had a bit of an inkling about what was going on…but he wanted confirmation.

Turns out, she was sick, but it was morning sickness and she had been hiding it pretty well for almost two weeks thinking it was a flu bug she couldn't shake. When asked why she hadn't gone to Wendy for healing Lucy told her that she didn't want to bother the little Slayer with a stomach ailment.

The petulant glare and rolling eyes from Wendy was enough to make Lucy blush at her idiocy. It didn't for a second cross her mind that she could be pregnant and that made Laxus laugh until he was wheezing. Over the six months of being mated, he had done everything in his considerable power to get her pregnant and she knew that.

They didn't use protection because they both wanted a family, a big one. They still argued about the numbers though. Laxus was hovering around thirty while Lucy had put her foot down at four, saying that if he wanted to give birth instead of her, he was welcome to do it. Then she had kicked him in the face and called him an idiot.

He loved her so much it wasn't even funny.

Laxus remembered her surprise, then the happiness when they realized that their family was growing so fast. Lucy was a little apprehensive as she got weak a lot quicker than normal, but was reassured by Porlyusica that it was normal for women who had powerfully magical offspring.

She was healthy, the baby was healthy and everything was great. The guild rejoiced and then in a triple whammy of unexpected news, Natsu had come forward and everyone that he had known who his mate was even as a child – which came as a shock to the guild, seeing as most thought he was an oblivious asshole – and then swooped down and kissed Gray of all people, full on the mouth, who then punched the Firebug in the eye, then kissed him back. And then Levy had come forward in a tearful display and told everyone that she was also pregnant.

They partied for four days straight. Cana drank all the booze and someone had somehow smashed the bar into tiny pieces (he had a sneaking suspicion that it was Gildarts), but it was the price he had to pay for the ridiculous happiness of his family. Although, he had to keep slapping Lucy's hands away from the wine because she would forget that she was pregnant.

It didn't hit her fully until a week and a half later when she had tried to pull her favourite jeans over her stomach and found out that she couldn't because in her words she had 'grown to the size of a whale' and instead of crying like a normal person, she took out all her messed up emotions on him.

Which he was all for because apparently a pissed off Lucy liked to tie him up and make him beg for release because it was all his fault and he should be punished.

Obviously.

Again, he was totally fine with it. It turned out that over the course of her pregnancy, Lucy didn't exactly have mood swings even though her hormones were way crazy, she swung between insatiable need to have him fuck her raw or, even stranger, hangry, which really wasn't a true mood, but it was the best way to explain the irrational anger when she was starving. The hungry anger he could deal with, easily, but it was the horniness that was giving him trouble.

Not bad trouble, just…inconvenience really. It didn't matter where they were…at all. If she got even a little randy, she was suddenly begging him with quiet moans and stifled panting. The lewdest shit fell from her mouth, the dirtiest things whispered in his ears. And he couldn't fucking resist her like that and had to take her every way possible every single time it happened. In an alleyway, the grocery store, the storage room of the guild, his office had been christened so many times he lost count. Every room in their house – she had moved in a week after they were officially mates, she would no longer have to worry about her nosy team mates or rent every again (until they followed her trail and then seemed to camp out in their living room like fucking squatters with no lives) – and the training field.

Everywhere.

It got to the point where even he couldn't keep up with her and that was saying something. But, nothing would slow her down. If he was too tired – which hit him right in his man pride, it only happened a couple of times – she would take it into her own hands to give him a reprieve. But…it would have him raring to take her as soon as possible. She loved showing him just how she wanted him to touch her, and he absolutely did not mind watching as her lithe little fingers went to work on her slick slit and whimpered as she delved two fingers into her core.

Honestly, it was one of his favourite past times, until he had heard the fluttering of heart beats – not just one, but multiple – and suddenly laying his head down for quality tummy time with his growing hatchlings shot up to the number one slot (sex with his pregnant mate was a _very close_ second).

That had been the shock of the century for him (pun entirely intended) and he had never been more proud or happier about that turn of events.

Twins.

Two fucking kids on the first try.

It was everything that he had hoped for. Double the trouble and anxiety and tiredness for them of course, but that was fine with them. He had once joked about how it was like a 'buy-one-get-one-free' situation and Lucy had been so appalled with him that he had to sleep on the couch for three days.

He came back to himself and watched his mate waddle out of their master bathroom with a hand on her back and a small smile on her face. Even though there were a million and one weird things going on with her body, she was looking forward to seeing those little sparks that liked to kick the shit out of her bladder constantly. Laxus had asked her what she wanted the genders to be and she had confessed one of each, and he thought that that would be perfect, even if they were currently rolling around on her spleen.

But, it meant that they were strong and active and that was more than they could have ever asked for, even if he was getting antsy to meet his little ones and Lucy was complaining daily that she was becoming more and more uncomfortable.

Her due date had come and gone eight days ago, and everyone was on pins and needles for her to go into labour.

He lifted himself half upright on one elbow and held his hand out. "Come here, babe."

She sighed as he helped her get comfortable on a mound of pillows and tucked her in before curling around her with his head on her breasts as close as possible to her stomach. He watched her wince slightly and cringe as one of his little sparks jabbed her insides. He didn't envy her at all. Pregnancy was weird as shit and incredibly hard, even if the rewards were worth the pain.

"Thanks, Sparky."

He gave her right breast a quick kiss and she giggled a little, squirming, but didn't rise to the bait this time. She was apparently too tired to get horny. They had been both getting absolute shit sleeps lately, the anticipation was killing them.

He rubbed his hand down her bare stomach after lifting her night shirt up, marvelling once again at the lives they had made, her stomach was round and distended, stretch marks crisscrossing over her pale skin. She thought they looked weird, he thought they were amazing. He loved looking at her pregnant (it probably had something to do with the fact that it was his offspring in her and he loved that more than anything even if his mate had hit him upside the head for calling them that), and had absolutely no shame in telling her that he thought she was more beautiful like this than ever. Lucy fucking glowed and stuttered out red faced for him to shut up.

Laxus loved it when she was bashful because it didn't happen very often and it meant that he either caught her off guard or believed what he was saying wholeheartedly.

He still couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that he was going to be a father. He had already vowed – more than once, loudly and very drunkenly to everyone gathered at the guild for the celebration of Lucy's pregnancy – that he would be better than the shit that raised him before his grandfather. Laxus knew it would be hard and his kids would undoubtedly turn his hair grey long before it was supposed to (or bald…just look at his Gramps…), but he would do his absolute best to make sure they were cared for and happy and healthy as long as he was able to.

He growled a little, as low as he could so not to wake Lucy – she had finally slipped into a nice light sleep – and he felt his children stop their incessant little flutters and settle down inside her. It was a trick he had found worked well to calm them for a while at least. He had a theory that they had some Slayer mixed in with them somewhere along the line and they were reacting to the sound of his own Dragon trying to speak to them. It was weird, but he liked the fact that they connected with him on a primal level.

His own Dragon was a smug bastard about it and preened whenever they reacted to him, but it only really reflected his own feelings on the matter.

The Thunder God traced small patterns on his mate's stomach, breathing in her scent and drifted off. Hopefully, they would be able to meet his children soon because the wait was absolute torture.

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

Lucy sighed forlornly as she watched Cana guzzle her customary pre-lunch barrel. She missed alcohol a little bit, and coffee. And a bunch of other shit that she enjoyed but couldn't have at the moment.

She rubbed her stomach as the flutters inside her grew more insistent until she felt one of her little sparks kick out and winced. Damn those babies were gonna come out strong, just like their dad, that was for sure.

A strange dichotomy of heat and cold engulfed her from behind as she felt a cool hand clamp down on her shoulder and a burning face press into her neck.

She knew this feeling instantly and didn't jolt or start or jump. They were her best friends after all.

"Luuuuceeee."

"Yes, Natsu?"

"Hurry up. I wanna meet my niece and nephew."

She laughed tiredly then stroked her hand through Natsu's thick pink hair for a minute before pushing his face off of her. He was just so warm and with the hot flashes she had that came out of nowhere, he was a bit much. "I can't control something like that Natsu, it's up to the babies really." She sighed out when Gray's cool hands massaged down her neck, easing the tension that had been gathering there over the last week and a half.

The mated pair sat on either side of her on the bench and chatted with her for a little while, taking Lucy's mind off the babies and pregnancy and everything that was about to change in her life. She was a little sad to stay back from missions with her team, but Juvia and Lisanna had been added as tentative members together, and that was working out well for the most part.

It had been…strained in the beginning. Lucy could see the pain in both girls' eyes as they watched the men the loved…in love with each other.

That had been a wild (if not wet) confrontation.

Natsu had never, not once since the moment Lucy had met him, mentioned mates or the fact that he knew _exactly who his was_. She had to go out and figure it out for herself when he had turned up in her house every damn winter to hibernate with some of her softest blankets. So imagine her (and everyone else's, mind you) surprise that ten minutes after she announces she's pregnant with Laxus' Lightning Spirit baby, her best fucking friend pulls this shit and claims Gray in front of everyone (the kiss was super-hot, so it was all forgiven, especially after Gray had gotten the upper hand and decked the Demon-Dragon in the face _and then_ shoved his own tongue down Natsu's throat.)

Unfortunately, no one had really thought about what would happen if a certain distraught and now livid water mage had witnessed said kiss.

To be frank, it poured for a week and the floor boards in the guild probably have more than their fair share of mould underneath them now.

It wasn't until a very subdued Lisanna (Lucy had seen the way she had looked at Natsu for years, and felt terrible that the take-over mage wasn't the one that was meant for her best friend) had dragged Juvia out for a two month mission so that they could clear their heads a little that everyone had dared to speak the name Gray in the guild hall again.

(She was a very…passionate and weepy person whenever her beloved was mentioned.)

They had returned and Juvia had more self-confidence and Lisanna had that sparkle in her eyes back again. But what both failed to see that they truly glowed and shined around each other. Lucy wasn't going to say anything, but Mira caught her watching the two giggle over an ice-cream sundae once and only winked slyly.

She wasn't the only one who saw how good they were together. Most likely they would take things slow, but perhaps they could mend each other's hearts and realise that they deserved one another.

Lucy could only hope that they found a love like she did. Like Natsu and Gray did, like Levy and Gajeel had.

Lucy sighed again and shifted uncomfortably. For the past two weeks, she had been feeling out of sorts, like her skin didn't quite fit her. Wendy had assured her that it was normal at the end of pregnancies, but Lucy just wanted it to be over, she wanted these gigantic babies out of her dammit.

"Tired?" Gray let her lean her head onto his blessedly cool (and suddenly naked, where was his shirt?) shoulder while Natsu watched over them pouting that he was too warm to help Lucy like his mate could.

"Yeah. I love being pregnant, don't get me wrong, but damn do I wish it was over. I've been waiting for them to come and I am getting so impatient."

"Isn't there anything you can do to…I don't know…help them along?"

Lucy raised her eyebrow at Natsu's question and gave a small huff. "Of course! We've tried everything. Long walks, this special herbal tea, castor oil, massages, fucking acupressure, Erza took me on a drive with her in a magic mobile cause she heard that a bumpy ride would work…and it did nothing except terrifying me. Oh, and sex, lots of it, but zip. Nothing."

"Ugh. No. I didn't need to hear that, but anything else?"

"Uhm, spicy foods? But that didn't do anything either."

Natsu perked up at that. "What did you have?"

"Mira's fire chicken."

He hummed and hawed for a while, thinking. "I guess, but I have something better, something way spicier."

Lucy cocked her head to the side and waited for an explanation. Only recently (as in the last three months or so) Natsu had shown her a little patch of land a five-minute walk away from his home that he grew food on.

Which was so ridiculous Lucy didn't even know what to think, but it was so…Natsu, that she just went with it. The irony wasn't lost on her either. The fact that Natsu, the man-Demon-Dragon who fought constantly with his mate and destroyed literally everything in his path even if most of the damage was unintentional could nurture and grow anything was a little hilarious. But the small garden filled with vegetables and berries had begged to differ and when asked, he said it was mostly for speciality items that he couldn't find in great quantities.

Green thumb Natsu was a weird concept, but it grew on her.

Those items had turned out to be hot peppers. But not the ones that normally grew in Fiore, or common elsewhere. These ones apparently were a special breed that Natsu had actually created. It flabbergasted her to no end, but it also made her happy to watch as her best friend was calm and gentle with his plants, and it gave her hope that it would spill over into the rest of his life a little and the guild wouldn't always be known as a walking disaster zone. It helped that while he worked and weeded that little plot of land, she would either write or read by his side alone or with Happy. It gave her something to fill her more lonely afternoons when Laxus was called away for official guild duties.

"You mean the ones from your garden?"

He grinned at her all teeth and flashing canines while Gray groaned. "I don't think—"

Lucy talked over her lovely friend who she was using as an ice pack, eager to try anything and everything. "Are they spicy?"

"Hell yeah."

"What are they called?"

His smile only got wider as he and Lucy only ignored the mutterings of Gray at their side.

"Demon chillies."

 _Of course._

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

" _Shit_!"

"Luce…you didn't even fucking eat one."

"Dammit Lava Crotch! I told you they were too spicy! I can't believe just the smell of it set her off!"

"Well it worked didn't it?"

"A little too well if you ask me! Her water fucking broke and you know Laxus is gonna kill both of us for this!"

"SHUT UP YOU PERVY POPSICLE!"

"WHY YOU—"

"OI! BOTH OF YOU FUCKING IDIOTS NEED TO SHUT THE HELL UP AND GET ME TO THE GODDAMN GUILD OR I'M GUNNA LET SPARKY FRY THE SHIT OUTA YOU AFTER I RIP OFF YOUR STUPID HEADS!"

"Yes Ma'am!"

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

The first thing Laxus heard that tipped him off that something was going down in the beer hall was all the yelling.

But not the usual kind of petty insults that made everyone male lose their minds and fall into the inevitable brawl that was brewing, but the kind that made his skin crawl with trepidation.

So.

Either someone broke all of Mira's pristine clean beer mugs again and Sitri had shown her face (that dickhead still owed him money from poker night three weeks ago) or Scary Lucy had popped up out of nowhere.

Which was saying something because they hadn't seen Scary Pregnant Lucy at all – praise Mavis – and most thought it was inevitable for it to happen sometime.

Apparently, that day was today, but he didn't know why. All he could hear was someone yelling about spicy peppers and idiot Slayers who knock up their mates without telling them first.

 _Oh._

Part of Laxus wanted to hide from the obviously terrifying whirlwind of a mate in his office, safe behind the mountains of paper work, and part knew that if he acted like a fucking coward that she would kick his ass then probably allow Erza to cut up his prized jacket.

Nope. Today was not going to be the day of his jacket's death.

The biggest question now was what had set Lucy off? He knew she was tired and uncomfortable and horny and hungry all the time, but she had held up like a fucking champ until right this second.

Just as he was about to venture outside and peek his head over the railing of the second floor to assess the situation and come up with a valid plan of attack complete with multiple escape routes, the door to his office was flung open by a growling Wendy (when the hell had she come back from her advanced healing lessons with Porlyusica?) in fucking Dragon Force.

"Fucking hell Squirt! Don't give me a heart attack!"

She pointed a finger in the middle of his chest and narrowed her eyes dangerously as if he had personally offended her. He was frozen in place and absolutely scared out of his wits, but he would never, ever say those words.

"You're needed in the infirmary. It's time."

His higher brain functions chose that moment to fizzle out into white noise and he asked the dumbest question that had ever come out of his mouth. Ever. "Time for what?"

And then his mate – who he knew had a set of lungs on her from all the times she had screamed his name as she came around his dick – cried out in obvious pain.

He was out of that doorway breezing passed Wendy and halfway to Lucy before anyone could even think the words _holyshit_. (Why he didn't think about just…teleporting there with his lightning was a mystery to himself even to this day.)

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

"So. First of all. I want to apologize for all those names I called you."

"Uh huh."

"And the broken hand."

"Okay."

"Oh! I promise I love your voice too. I didn't mean that I thought it sounded like a dying duck. It's actually soothing and sexy and all growly."

"Sure."

"Are you even listening Sparky?"

In truth, he was not. Even though he recognized somewhere deep within his hind brain that he should be paying attention to the light of his life, but in his defence, he had his hands filled with two bright-eyed little girls.

Two blonde-haired little angels that cooed and whined and screamed like banshees. He couldn't fucking believe it.

He was a dad. He was their papa now and he had two little baby Dragons.

And _shit_ he was already crying, but that was fine because he had his baby girls in his arms and his mate was health and amazing. It was all coming up Laxus.

"Babe?"

"Uh…yeah."

"You alright?"

"Goddamn, you make me so happy. Look at them, Princess. They are so fucking perfect. Thank you, baby. Dammit. Fuck I love you."

He watched as Lucy teared up and reached for them all and suddenly they were all on the same bed happy as can fucking be, crying and sniffling and sappy.

Porlyusica gave them a slightly subdued glare – for her that was like she was practically beaming at them – and pushed some paperwork around while Wendy stood beaming at her side trying to sneak peaks at the new babies.

"Names?"

Laxus baulked. Every name they had come up with flew out of his mind and he floundered. The two perfect names they had picked out just felt wrong now.

Lucy was looking at their girls, nibbling her lower lip between her teeth. "I don't…Laxus? I don't _like the ones we picked out…_ "

Well, at least he wasn't the only one.

The one on the right blinked open her eyes for the first time and Laxus inhaled sharply. He knew that babies always had blue eyes when they were born, but hers looked so dark they were almost indigo.

"Violet."

The second slept peacefully and Lucy smiled down at her. "Grace."

Well, fuck him. After all that planning and time spent on names and arguing, all they had needed was to see their kids and they just _knew_.

Wendy smiled and jotted down the names, making it official. "Ready to let the masses in? You know Natsu's been pacing since you came up here almost four hours ago."

The Thunder God looked down on his kickass mate and quirked a single brow in question. "Well? What do you think? Should we let the crazies in? Ready to take on the next adventure?"

Her eyes twinkled as she shifted Grace closer to her chest and smiled the same smile that made him fall head over fucking tea kettle for her all those years ago. Violet gurgled a little and that made him smile back. "You betcha Sparky, let's do this thing."

* * *

FIN

* * *

 **That's it my precious cupcakes,**

 **Thanks for reading Lightbulb and hope you check out some of my other fics as well…**

 **Stay Crazy,**

 **LoadedEel**


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